Not So Average
by Rising Light
Summary: After her town gets destroyed, a girl finds herself thrown into the adventures that surround the Chosen and her group. OC-insert. Rated T for mild language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And now, for another "let's insert an OC here!" fanfiction! **

**I own nothing except for my OC, whom you'll meet now. Enjoy.**

--

I've never expected anything less than average from my life. I grew up in a normal town, with normal experiences and normal everything (with exception to a few minor details that I won't delve into at this time). No one certainly expected anything less – or more – than average from me, with exception to my mother; but mothers are always saying things like: "I know you can do it!" or "You're the best!"

Thanks, Mama. Like I needed to be reminded of my averageness.

So let me tell you, it was the shock of my life when my town was destroyed and I found myself involved with the chosen's quest to save the world. I never expected to go off to a distant world and actually contribute to the reunification of two worlds.

The following in an account of everything that has happened to me on this adventure. You may choose to believe it, or you may choose to view it as fiction. I don't blame you if you don't believe this all happened. I still have trouble believing I got pulled into this.

This is the story of my not-so-average adventure.

--

"Mama! I'm heading out for a few days, alright?"

I pull my boots on over my woolen socks, searching around my room for my pouch. My bedroom, located in the attic of the small cottage, is a complete mess (believe me, my mama never lets me forget it). After mentally retracing my steps over the past few hours, I remember that I carelessly threw the bag on my bed. Sure enough, when I check I find it buried under layers of blankets.

I climb down the ladder that leads into the kitchen. It's a cozy room with a fire always burning in the oven. My mama, whose passion is baking, is currently cooking up a storm, and the sweet smell of cinnamon and dough wafts under my nose. I grin, inhaling the wondrous aroma: Mama's making cinnamon rolls.

Lorelei Stringard, my mother, turns around to smile at me, and I am reminded that she is one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen (although I suppose my opinion _is_ slightly biased). Her hair, light brown and composed of loose, thick curls, is usually tied up in a bun, but she always has wisps of hair falling into her face, framing her beautiful light blue eyes. Her cheeks are always red and rosy, as if she has just gotten inside from the cold. And, of course, her smile captivates anyone who sees it.

It's a wonder that she's been alone all these years. I guess she still loves my father, even if he was an ass.

A lot of people say I look like Mama. I can kinda see where they're getting at: I mean, I do have her light brown hair and tall, thin frame. But I don't have her aura of beauty and grace; I'm the tall lanky kid who's awkward in her own body. Plus, whereas her eyes are bright blue, I've been stuck with my father's dark green eyes. I hate these eyes so much, because I know that whenever my mama looks at them, she's reminded of my father, and I hate having to do that to her.

"Brynne, darling," she says in her light soprano voice, "where are you exploring today? Going off to save the world once more?"

She can never let it go that when I was younger, I would pretend that I was a famous adventurer who would go off and slay dragons and shit. I wish she would stop with it; I'm almost eighteen, and I haven't pretended that sort of stuff in forever…or at least, a few weeks.

I roll my eyes. "You bet, Mama. Right after I defeat the wicked Desians and save the princess." My mother sighs, clearly not amused by my sarcasm.

I grab an apple from the little fruit bowl on the table and take a bite out of it. Juices dribble down my chin, and I wipe at them with the sleeve of my jacket. My mother shakes her head as she sees me perform this unlady-like act: she has tried, in vain, to get me to be prim and proper, although I'd rather chase a squirrel than sip at tea with the neighbors.

Sighing, Mama scolds softly: "You may not care if your clothes are dirty now, but just wait until I make you wash the dirty laundry." We both know, however, that she would never make me do this; the last time I attempted to wash clothes, I ended up ruining everything. Household chores just aren't my forte.

"Relax, Mama, I was planning on a taking a swim anyway. They'll get clean then." Of course I don't tell her that when I go swimming, I don't wear my clothes. But I'll clean them anyway, really. If I remember, I will.

She sighs. "Just be careful, alright. I don't want to see you being taken away from me."

"Don't worry, the Desians wouldn't want me anyway."

I smirk, trying to make light of the situation. Mama's been getting especially protective lately, fearful of the Desians' increased activity. Before I was born, her younger sister was taken away by the Desians to one of the ranches, and she doesn't want the same fate to happen to me. Believe me when I say I don't want that to happen to me either.

I jam some dried meat and fruit into my bag, prepping for my voyage. I'm not planning on going too far: just to Lake Umacy. The last time I was there, I thought I saw something in the water, and I wanted to investigate further but couldn't due to my running out of supplies. I toss in a glass bottle filled with water, knowing the bedroll stuffed in the bag would cushion it.

I hug my mother, saying, as I always do before I leave, "I love you Mama."

As a second thought, I head towards our cellar, just to grab a few extra supplies, when I'm suddenly stopped by Mama exclaiming, "Stop!"

I turn to face her, completely puzzled. Just what is going on? "Why?"

My mother frowns, biting her lower lip. She always does that when she's thinking, so I know she's hiding something from me. "There's something down there that I don't want you to see," she replies, as if she can't come up with a good enough lie for me; that's understandable, since I can usually see past people's lies anyway.

"What, is there a monster down there?" I grin as I say this. Luin's a peaceful city, and there's no way that a monster could be in our cellar, let alone in the entire town.

"A monster…not exactly," Mama replies. "Just promise me you won't go down there, please."

I shrug. "Whatever you say, Mama." Maybe it's a really early birthday present. Cool.

Someone suddenly knocks at the door. This isn't too much of a surprise, since Mama runs a bakery and she's pretty popular throughout the city for this (her pastries are _really_ good). However, our door is closed, meaning we don't want any visitors or customers now; this means that the person knocking is either really rude or not from here.

I glance at Mama before running over to our door. I open it and find myself looking at an exceptionally pretty woman. She has really dark hair that has a purple sheen to it in the morning light, and her eyes are a really light shade of hazel. The clothes that she's wearing look outlandish, to say the least: the shirt looks more like a robe than a shirt, and it appears to be too small for her, since her breasts are practically falling out of it.

Nevertheless, I try not to stare as I say, "Um, how may I help you?"

She looks up at me (she's shorter than me, as are most people) and asks, "I was wondering if I could possibly rent a room for a few days, if it's not a problem."

"Are you aware that there's an inn right down the road?" I try not to sound like a complete prick when I say that, but apparently I'm not too successful, for her cheeks flush in embarrassment.

"I already went there, and there aren't any rooms available at the moment." She adds under her breath, "Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now."

Unsure of what to do, I invite the strange woman inside and call for my mother. She comes racing into the entrance room, flour all over her hands. She takes a look at the woman and reacts much better than I did: "Welcome to our home! Is there anything I can help you with?" She's smiling like crazy right now, and the woman doesn't know how to react to the sudden wave of kindness.

"Do you possibly have a room that I could rent for a few nights? I know it's a bit sudden and I understand if you don't but-"

"Brynne, why didn't you tell me this in the first place?" Mama shoots me an accusatory glare. Turning to the newcomer, she says sweetly, "Why of course you can stay! And I won't hear of this 'renting,' as you call it. This isn't an inn: it's a home. My daughter is going out for a few days, so you can have her room," she looks at me, "just as soon as she cleans it up."

I forgot how kind my mother could be to strangers. The poor woman looks as if she's just taken a huge bite of food and can't swallow it all.

"W-why thank you! But I can't let you house me for free-"

My mother smiles. "Why, you don't have to. You can help me with a few minor chores, if you wish to pay like that." She adds, as a second thought, "And if you tell us your name, for we can't work together if we don't know each other."

"Of course! My name is Sheena," the woman replies. "And I'll help with anything, really."

"Good. Now come to the kitchen and have some breakfast while Brynne cleans up her room, alright? I've baked some muffins that I'm sure you'll like…"

My mother and Sheena go into the kitchen, leaving me by myself. When did I say a complete stranger could have my room while I was gone?

--

Up in my room, I've managed to clear off most of the clothes and knickknacks off of the floor and put them back in their proper place. I'm replacing the sheets on my bed when I hear a light knock. I call out "Come in!" and turn my head to see the trap door that serves as the entrance to my room open and Sheena's face peering through the opening.

"Hi," she says cautiously. "I was just seeing if I could help with anything."

"Nope," I say with more ice in my voice than I'd anticipated. "Almost ready."

Sheena looks around the room, approaching the window that looks out over the town. "You've got a nice view of the water from here," she tells me, trying to instigate some form of conversation.

"Indeed." I tuck in the quilt that my mother made me years ago, which will now warm a complete stranger instead of me.

I hear an exasperated sigh, and the woman says, "What's your problem? If I'd known you would've acted like this, I would've gone to someone else's house first!"

I stand up straight, looking her straight in the eye, and say seriously, "No, it's probably better that you came here first. My mama is especially kindhearted – too kindhearted for her own good, if you ask me." I think back to my father, and I know I'm right. "Look, I'll be gone anyway, so when I come back, you'll probably be gone and things will be back to normal, right?"

"Uh…yeah. Sure." She looks so confused. I don't blame her. I can be a bit confusing sometimes, what with my crazy mood swings. Go figure.

"Fantastic. Well then, if you don't mind me, I'll be leaving now. Try not to take anything from my room, alright? Because I _will_ know if anything's missing."

I slide down the ladder and call out a goodbye to my mother. She's busy making a pie or something now, so I just head towards the door and grab my bow and quiver. I also stuff my dagger in the belt at my waist: just incase I run out of arrows and I need to fight off a foe.

The city of Luin has woken up, and there are an assortment of people up and about. I can hear the shopkeepers calling out to the innocent people passing by, telling them about how their stores have the best fares and items. I watch everyone for a moment, before remembering it's about a day's journey to Lake Umacy. I exit the town, looking at everything one last time. It gives me a great swell of hope and pride, and I suddenly realize how it got its nickname as the "City of Hope."

Once I'm out of the city, I glance around to see if there are any monsters about. It's surprisingly empty, as if someone has already killed off today's batch of monsters. Not that it matters, since they'll all be back by late afternoon. I whistle merrily, heading southeast towards the lake.

My mother, being the down-to-earth person that she is, doesn't understand why I constantly run off out of town. She doesn't understand that I don't want the life she has; I won't be content to sit around and bake pastries while I wait for my true love to return to me. I will not succumb to the mediocrity that accompanies an average woman's life. I will live for myself, doing whatever it is I want to do. I wouldn't expect her to understand that.

Perhaps it's the elven in me.

The air is unusually quiet, as if something big is going to happen. Perhaps a huge storm is going to blow through the area. It's usually pretty windy here, since we're by the seal of wind, so we get storms a lot. But this thing that's going to happen…it's something that'll be larger than anything the people here have seen in a long time. I hug myself, feeling uneasy about being out alone.

It isn't until midday that my stomach starts rumbling, and I realize that the only thing I've eaten today was an apple. I look around, making sure there aren't any monsters nearby, and see a tree that'll be good for climbing. I make my way to the tree and climb up, stopping about halfway up. I rest on a large branch and open my bag, pulling out the one loaf of bread that I brought (stale bread isn't my favorite, so I usually eat it the first day out), some lettuce, a tomato, and some meat. I manage to make myself a sandwich and thoroughly enjoy it. I know I should ration my food, but I can't fight my stomach when it growls. I'm tall, and it takes a lot to provide energy from my head to my toes.

Once I'm done, instead of proceeding on towards the lake, I stay in the tree and watch the world around me. I know that Slyvarant is suffering, and we need the Chosen, wherever she is, to succeed in regenerating the world someday, yet I can't help but see how beautiful it is here. I just wish we didn't have the Desians here. Maybe then we could survive, instead of fearing for our lives.

It's midafternoon by the time I'm motivated enough to move on. The idea of running into monsters at night is not a very pleasant one, and I'd rather not fight three or four creatures at once. I pluck the string of my bow, a habit I've picked up over the years. I like to keep my hands busy, so I resort to using my bow, since I keep it with me at almost all times.

A wolf's growl catches my ear, and I groan. So much for getting through the day fight-free. I turn and find two wolves snarling at me, their yellow eyes narrowed. I can't help but notice that, by baring their teeth, I'm forced to see all of their sharp fangs, which is not something I want to be distracted by. I nock an arrow on my bow, but I don't pull on it. If I can remain calm and walk away slowly, I might be able to get away. The main thing is to show that you aren't afraid, because if an animal senses fear, it'll take advantage of it.

I take a step back, and the wolves take a step closer to me. Alright, so walking away isn't an option. However, I can't attack first because if I do, they'll fight right back. Yet if I wait for them to fight, I could get ambushed by more wolves in their pack.

Pretty much, I'm screwed.

I sigh, and pull back on the string, charging a magic attack. Fire appears at the tip of my arrow, and it soon engulfs the entire head. I close an eye, aiming at the smaller of the two wolves. "Fire arrow," I mutter, bringing the spell to full force. I release the arrow, and it flies straight into the eye of one of the wolves. It howls in pain as the fire spreads throughout its body, but I don't have the time to feel sympathy towards it; the wolf's ally leaps at me. I pull out my dagger and leap out of the way, watching its movements carefully. It prowls around me, just as I am doing to it, and we're both waiting for the other to make a move.

I quickly grab for my bow and an arrow, but the wolf is quicker as it bolts at me. I yelp as it manages to bite my arm. Luckily, the wound isn't major, but it hurts like a bitch. Luckily, it's my weak arm, so at least I can still fight. I nock another arrow and, not bothering with a spell, fire it at the wolf. It whizzes by, embedding itself in the ground a few feet away. Without even thinking, I grab another arrow and aim it. This time, it hits the wolf in its leg tendon, and it cries out in pain. It attempts to approach me, but it falls to the ground, unable to move without hurting itself. As a precaution, I shoot another arrow at it, this time getting it in its neck.

At this point, my left arm throbs beyond belief, and I can feel the blood running down my arm. I know the wolf won't be able to follow me, so I can walk away if I really wanted to and treat my wound. However, when I see that the creature is suffering, I know the best thing to do is to take it out of its misery. I make my way towards it, dagger in hand. It looks up at me with sad eyes, as if it knows what I'm about to do. I sigh and stab my dagger in its chest, approximately where its heart is. It cries out for a moment before its head flops lazily. I cut off its head just to be safe, grimacing the entire time. I'm not opposed to gore, but it's not something I go out of my way to see either.

I use one of my apple gels to treat my wound, eating a little of it and putting the rest on the open wound. I then grab one of the bandages that I keep in my bag and wrap it around my arm. Hopefully, it'll heal by morning if I've treated it correctly. I glance once more at the two wolves that I've killed and sigh. It's not that I like killing animals: I just have to choose between them or me.

After I retrieve my arrows and wipe the blood from my weapons, I continue on. I know of a clearing nearby, and I want to get to it soon. The sun is already setting, so I don't have a lot of time before the nighttime animals are ready to fight.

I reach the spot in good time, and the first thing I do is grab a Holy Bottle and sprinkle the contents around the edge of the clearing. The magic in the bottle keeps the monsters at bay for a few hours, so I should be relatively safe for the night. Of course, the bottle doesn't protect against Desians, so I've still got that to worry about.

Fantastic.

I then build a fire. I know it's risky, since it could draw in some unwanted visitors, such as the unscrupulous Desians. However, it gets really cold at night, especially with the strong winds that we get here, and I feel secure enough here in the forest. Plus, I really don't like being alone in the dark, so I build fires to add that little bit of security.

The fire warms my cold body as I pull my bedroll out from my pack. I pull off my boots and slide on in, shuddering as the cold cloth touches my body. However, my body heat and the heat from the fire warms the bedroll quickly, and soon I'm comfortable. With my pack under my head as a makeshift pillow, I look up at the sky, where the moon, already half gone, is upstaged by the shining stars. I count them, something I do every time I'm out exploring to get me to go to sleep. Eventually, my eyes grow heavy and I succumb to the darkness that accompanies sleep.

--

I wake up to a gust of cold morning air, and in an attempt to escape it I duck into my bedroll. I hide there for a few more minutes until I fully wake up. I peer from my covers, glancing around to see what it's like. It appears to be early morning, the sun casting a wave of pink over everything.

I grab a quick bite to eat, just some fruit, before heading out. I stick to the forest route, where there are only birds and rabbits. It's rather uneventful, but I've had my fill of adventure for a while. I'd rather not have my arm get completely bitten off by a wolf.

I reach the lake by late afternoon. Lake Umacy is a sanctuary from monsters, for reasons I don't know. However, I'm not complaining, since it's one less Holy Bottle that I have to use.

The first thing I do upon arrival is strip off my jacket. It's actually more of an overcoat than a jacket, reaching down to behind my knees. It's a light blue, much like the color of the sky, with a dark violet border and designs. I've got a simple sleeveless light blue dress on underneath my overcoat; I take this off as well. Then I pull off my brown boots, rip off my thick woolen socks, and take off my tight gray leggings.

Once all my undergarments are off, I jump right into the water, the coldness engulfing my entire body. I swim around for a bit, my body adjusting to the temperature quickly enough. I open my eyes while under water and glance at the strange creature that's underneath the water. Although the water is crystal clear, the creature is far away, and my lungs aren't large enough to hold the amount of air needed to get a good look at it.

I have been able to get a few pieces of information about it, however: firstly, it looks a lot like a horse; secondly, it has a big horn on its head; thirdly, it's able to survive under water; and fourthly, I'm pretty sure it's a unicorn.

Huzzah!

If only I could find a way to get to it. Apparently, a unicorn's horn contains a vast amount of power, and if I could harness that…well, it wouldn't even matter that I don't have an exsphere.

I spend the next few days doing one of four things: sleeping, eating, swimming, or daydreaming. It's hard work, lying on the grass and imagining a life filled with adventure and intrigue, but someone has to do it. Mostly, I daydream, and when I do, I let the sun's rays warm my body. Adventure, mystery, and even a little bit of romance fill my head, and I escape from the realm of reality into a world where all of my fantasies come true.

In my daydreams, I see my mother, as beautiful as ever, happy with a man who really deserves her, instead of alone and miserable. I see myself exploring the world and meeting people with whom I can relate, instead of the typical townspeople with who I'm forced to deal with on a regular basis.

It is early morning on the fourth day at the lake when I hear a commotion off in the distance. As curious as ever, I climb one of the taller trees in an attempt to see what is going on. There's a long line of people marching somewhere. I squint my eyes, since they're far away, and I see that their uniforms look uncannily similar to those of the Desians. I feel the blood drain from my face as I see what direction they are headed: northwest, right to Luin.

Even with my extensive knowledge of the area, I can't make it to Luin in time to warn the townspeople of the upcoming attack! And even if I could, if I'm there, I'd be endangering myself in the process. The Desians are always looking for people to put in their ranches; while they'll take any humans, they prefer those who are younger and can do more work, such as people my age.

If I believed in the Goddess Martel, I'd send her a prayer right now. However, I know that there is no goddess; otherwise, why would there be so much suffering in the world? So instead, I remain in the tree and watch grimly as the Desians march towards my hometown.

--

**A/N: Heyo guys! First off, thanks for reading this first chapter! I know, it's a bit on the slow side, but things **_**will**_** speed up, I promise. I just needed to set up a few things for the following chapters.**

**Also, before anyone asks, I haven't the slightest idea what the pairings will be in this story, although I can guarantee you one that you will not see: LloydxOC. Trust me, alright? So if any of you have any suggestions for pairings, don't hesitate to tell me.**

**So, I'm all ears for suggestions or criticisms or anything, alright? If you guys think I need to improve something, please let me know! Which leads me to my next point:**

**Reviews are nice and will always be appreciated, but they are not why I'm writing this story. I'm not going to be one of those crazy authors who demands a certain amount of reviews before the next chapter is put up. That defeats the purpose of writing, if you ask me.**

**So now, next time, the gang comes into play! Huzzah!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Everything ToS-related is not mine.**

**Brynne, however, is.**

**Enjoy.**

--

There's so much screaming from Luin. I stuff my fingers in my ear, trying to drown out the noise. I hum a lullaby my mother sang to me when I was a little girl, but I still hear everything. It's so hard listening to the pain and suffering and knowing there's nothing I can do about it. The tears, which have already started flowing from my eyes, escape at an even steadier rate, and all I can see are the blurry shapes of trees. I wish there was something I could do.

I turn my head and stare at the lake. Down at the bottom, near the floor of Lake Umacy, is the lone unicorn. All thoughts leave my head, with exception to one: with the unicorn's power, I can help Luin. Throwing off my jacket and boots, I jump in, swimming with all my strength. Adrenaline flows through my veins, giving me the energy necessary to make it to the bottom. I ignore the burning in my lungs, ignore the instinct to swim to the surface for oxygen. All I can think of is getting to the unicorn and getting its horn.

My hand reaches out towards it, and I kick to make it closer to it. However, it seems like it's floating away from me. I kick harder, but my actions are in vain; the unicorn floats away from me. I look up, and I realize that I'm the one who is floating away. As I approach the surface, a calming voice enters my mind:

_Though your efforts have been noted, my power is not meant for you. Go now, before it is too late._

My head breaks the surface, and I cry out in agony. The power is not meant for me? What? Who was that, and why couldn't I reach the unicorn?

I stay in the icy cold water, unable to move. I know I could receive hypothermia from the cold temperature, but my whole body is numb: I can't save my town, my friends, my mother.

Eventually, I find the will to swim to the shore. I strip off my wet clothes and huddle in my bedroll, stuffing my head underneath it once more.

I am not lucky enough to sleep that night.

--

The next morning is quiet. I remain in my bedroll, unable to move, unable to act. I can only think of my failed attempt, and then of my cowardice. How could I just stand around and watch as the Desians attacked my town?

A voice in my head tells me that there was nothing I could do; it was two-hundred Desians against one seventeen-year-old girl. It would have been hopeless, the voice tells me, to even attempt to fight all of them at once.

Despite this, I still feel responsible.

I change into my spare outfit, pull on my boots, and pack up camp. As much as I wish I can die, I have to get to the town as soon as possible to check on my Mama, make sure she isn't dead. My heart sinks as I remember the guest that had come into town just a few days earlier. That woman is an innocent bystander who probably got caught up in the attack.

I set out, the sun high in the sky. By now, the Desians are probably marching back to their ranch with the survivors in tow. I take an alternate route back home in an attempt to avoid running into them. I will not become one of their prisoners, no matter what.

I don't know how, but I make great time in my travels. Perhaps the monsters are all hiding because the Desians are marching. I've heard the Desians are the reasons why there are monsters in the first place, so if this is true, the Desians can order them to retreat while they are out and about. I don't know if this is so, but it makes my travels that much easier.

How bittersweet it is.

A little past dark, I'm still traveling. I need to get there as soon as possible, and this need overpowers my minor fear of the dark. The moon is nearly gone, devoured by the dark sky, so all I have to guide me are the stars.

As I'm walking, I hear the sound of laughter. I stop, completely baffled. This laughter doesn't sound like that of the Desians; it is the laughter of a child. I listen intently, and I then hear a young boy's voice yell, "Lloyd, that's your fifth helping! Save some for Colette!"

Travelers? Who would dare to travel at these times? Alright, I would, but I'm already a freak. Who in their _right mind _would travel? The only person who I can think of is the Chosen, and the odds of running into her are...

Well, it's highly unlikely.

Perhaps they're on a spiritual mission for Martel, or some shit like that. That's probably it, actually.

Should I visit them? Should I see if they can help me? Can I trust them?

I feel like I don't have a lot of choice in the matter, so I follow the sounds of the voices and find myself staring at a group of people. I see four people there: a young boy with silvery hair and a blue outfit; a girl who looks to be around my age with long blonde hair and eyes so blue I can see them all the way in my hiding place, many feet away; a woman who also has silvery hair who looked to be the eldest of the group; and a brunet young man who also looks to be my age, clad in a red outfit that I can only describe as odd. At the foot of the brunet boy is a strange green and white creature. I watch them, curious. This certainly doesn't look like a group that would go on a spiritual thing. But what do I know? I'm cynically agnostic.

The cold tip of a blade touches my neck, and I freeze as a voice as chilling as the sword whispers in my ear, "What is your purpose in your spying?"

I'm unable to find my voice. Fear grips my soul, and the cold voice repeats his question. I swallow the knot in my throat and manage to say, "I-I heard voices and I just thought that you c-could help me."

The blade remains at my neck. "Go on." There is no emotion in this mysterious voice, and I wish I could turn around to see who's speaking to me.

"Luin was attacked by Desians," I manage to reply. "And I thought..." My voice trails off as the sword leaves my neck.

"What did you say?" For the first time, I can sense some sort of emotion in his voice: shock.

"Luin. It got attacked by Desians. Please, can you help me?"

He doesn't respond, but instead grabs my shoulder and pushes me out of my hiding place and into the clearing where the group is. The brunet boy sees us first and says, "Kratos, who is that?" I can't help but note he's taller than a lot of the boys in Luin, and for a moment I feel relief that there are guys taller than me in the world; however, then I realize now isn't a good time to think about boys.

The other three look up as well, and I feel my face growing hot. It's rather unnerving.

"I found her spying on us," my captor, Kratos, replies cooly.

"Look, " I start to say, "something's happened, and I need help."

The blonde girl 's eyes widen when she hears this. "What's happened?"

I suddenly can't say it. It's too hard to say. Luin...my home. My friends. Everyone.

Kratos, sensing my sudden inability to speak, comes to my rescue. "She says Luin was attacked by Desians."

The blonde cries out, "No!" while the two boys' jaws drop. The only one who remains calm is the silver-haired woman, who scrutinizes me.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" she asks carefully.

She's questioning me? Is she actually questioning me? Why would I lie to them about something as serious as Luin getting attacked?

When I relay my last thought to her, the woman just says, "We have our reasons."

The blonde girl comes to my rescue, saying, "Professor, I don't think she's lying."

"Yeah," the brunet boy agrees. "I agree with Colette."

The Professor examines me for a moment before asking, "Do you know a girl names Sheena?"

Sheena? The name sounds familiar. I rack my mind, and remember the girl who came to my house asking for a room: she said her name was Sheena.

"Why does it matter?" I ask, suspicious.

"That's not of your concern right now," she replies coldly.

"Well," I say carefully, "I know of a girl named Sheena, though I can't say I know her very well."

"How are you connected with her?" the woman interrogates.

I raise my eyebrows. Where is she going at with this? "She just needed a place to stay for a few days. My mother gave her my room while I was gone." Remembering my mother's act of kindness makes my heart sink. I really hope she's okay.

The cold, gruff voice says after a moment, "I think it's safe to say this girl is not associated in the assassin's actions. However, we should go to Luin tomorrow to examine the damage."

I turn my head and look at this man for the first time. He's tall - a lot taller than me, which is quite an accomplishment - with unruly auburn hair and brown eyes that look almost red when the light from the fire hits them. Many would call him an attractive man, but one thing holds me back from labeling him as such: his face holds no expression, something I find unsettling.

The brunet boy approaches me and says with a smile on his face, "Hi. I'm Lloyd." He offers a gloved hand and I take it, a ghost of a smile forming on my face. I mentally sigh as I see I'm a little taller than him. So much for being around a guy taller than me who's my age. Even so, he _is_ cute.

"I'm Brynne."

The other two kids introduce themselves as well. The blonde girl's name is Colette, and the silver-haired boy is Genis. They then proceed to introduce the other two adults: Raine, the silver-haired woman, who is Genis' sister and the children's professor; and Kratos, a mercenary sent to protect Colette. Apparently, Genis and Raine are elves, according to Lloyd. Well, that explains the silver hair.

With a whine, the strange creature runs off, leaving me slightly confused. "Um...can I ask what that was?"

"That's Noishe. He's my dog," Lloyd tells me. "He's not very good around strangers, but once you get to know him he'll stick around."

The thing is a dog? Well, I guess you _do_ learn something new every day.

I look at the blonde girl and wonder why she needs to be protected. I'm about to ask when Genis offers some food, saying they might have some left over. I sigh, but the smell of the food makes my stomach growl, so I follow the boy.

--

It's strange being with people my own age. I don't relate with people very well, especially when said people are my peers. However, these people seem to accept me. Colette is especially kind, asking me questions and telling me about all of them. It's strange, but I'm actually enjoying myself to the point where I forget about everything that's happened to Luin.

While talking, Colette explains that she is, in fact, the Chosen of Mana, and the group is on a quest to regenerate the world. I guess my jaw drops, because Lloyd and Genis both laugh. For the second time that evening I blush.

I quickly get over my embarrassment when Raine smacks them both, scolding them for their behavior.

Raine then suggests that we all go to bed. Kratos volunteers for night watch, so everyone else pulls out their bedrolls and goes to bed. I soon hear someone snoring, but I can't fall asleep with as much ease. I should feel tired, considering the long night I suffered through last night, but I can't sleep.

I look up at the sky and count the stars, looking for constellations. I see one that looks like a cat, a bird, and a tree before I realize sleep is not going to be an option for me tonight. With a quiet sigh, I go back to stargazing, waiting for sleep to come to me or for morning to arrive.

--

The next morning, Genis makes a quick breakfast of omelets for us before we go to Luin. Lloyd and Genis joke around with each other, and although Genis nags Lloyd for his stupidity and Lloyd makes fun of Genis for being short, I can tell that they are best friends.

Colette approaches me and says in a chipper voice, "Hi Brynne!"

I smile, her merriment contagious. "Hey Colette."

"It's so nice to have a girl my age around!" she says, her smile somehow growing bigger. "I think that we're going to be great friends. "

"I hope so," I say truthfully. She seems really nice, and I wouldn't mind having a friend like her. Although, honestly, I don't know how long I'm going to be with this group. After all, as far as I can tell, they are just taking me to Luin. From there, I'm assuming I'll be on my own.

"So you're the Chosen, right?" Colette nods her head in reply. "Why don't you have priests and stuff with you? I can understand why you'd have a mercenary with you, but why are Raine, Genis, and Lloyd with you?" After I ask this, I realize how rude I must sound. I add rather quickly, "Never mind. You don't have to answer that, really."

"It's alright," Colette replies, that same smile still on her face. "Raine is with me because she's very knowledgeable and can really help me along on my journey. For example, she's knows a lot about Magitechnology and ruins." Her smile falters for a moment as she says, "Lloyd and Genis are here because they were banned from our hometown, Iselia."

"What did they do?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I don't think it's my place to say. But the point is, if it weren't for them, I don't know if I'd've made it this far."

I note Lloyd's swords sheathed at his waist. "Are the good fighters? Like, can they protect you well?"

"Well, that helps a lot." She looks over at Lloyd, and I sense that she holds some feelings for him. "But mostly, they've really helped me because they're always so supportive and caring." She looks down and adds quietly, "It makes me sad sometimes."

I overlook that last comment, since I have a feeling she doesn't want me to inquire about it. So instead we walk in silence for a few moments, the sounds of the forest surrounding us. The strong wind blows through, shaking the trees with a mighty force. As the trees shake, wasps the size of my head fly out, obviously pissed about being removed from their resting place. The bugs see us and buzz towards us, and I realize that we are now their prey.

Almost as if on cue, Kratos unsheathes his sword and glances back at Lloyd, who does the same. Genis, next to me, chants, and Colette, with her chakrams, follows Lloyd. I hang back with Genis and Raine, both of whom are chanting for spells, and I unsling my bow from my back and nock an arrow on it. I, too, begin to charge a spell, making fire surround the arrowhead. I aim for one of the wasps and, after making sure no one from the group is in my way, fire the arrow. I smile as the arrow hits it dead on.

Genis, who just finished casting his spell as well, says, "Nice shot!"

I nock another arrow and aim at another wasp. I feel a rush of cool Mana flowing through me, and with it comes the knowledge of a new spell. I shout, "Ice Arrow!"

The arrow gets encased with ice and flies towards the wasp. It hits it in the wing, freezing it. The wasp falls to the ground, unable to fly, and Lloyd kills it with his swords. I look around and see there is only one more wasp left, and Colette seems to be handling it pretty well on her own, so I sling my bow over my head and let it rest on my left shoulder, crossing over my back.

When Colette kills the last wasp, Raine checks to make sure no one got injured. Colette tripped and fell numerous times during the battle, but was unscathed; in fact, it turns out it's rare for her _not_ to fall in battle. Lloyd is the only one who got hurt, and even then it's minor, just a scrape on his arm. She heals it with First Aid and we continue on with our voyage.

--

We make it to Luin at midday, and the sight before us is unbearable; it's so much worse than I could've imagined. All of the buildings have been destroyed, the wood charred from fires; even now, some of the remains are still smoking. The smell of burned flesh and blood wafts under my nose, making me sick to my stomach. The inn has fallen apart completely, and the weapon shop gone. My heart falls as I see everything. My home...

I run ahead, leaving the others behind. I hear Colette call out my name, but I ignore it. I need to see what state my home is in, whether there are any bodies there... I shake that last thought out of my head as I approach my street. The houses are all charred pieces of wood, scattered about the ground like discarded items. I walk slowly, as if I'm in a daze, and go to what is left of my house.

Our front walkway, which used to be cobblestone, is covered with grime and a red liquid that looks suspiciously like blood. I place my hand on the charred wood, remembering how proud my mother was of her home. It was small and modest, but it was ours, and no one could take it from us.

No one except for the Desians, apparently.

The entrance room has been completely ransacked. All the furniture is either gone or destroyed, and the decorative rug has a huge bloodstain on it. I really hope all of this blood isn't from my mother. The remaining walls are scorched, and when I brush a hand against one of them I get burnt. Sticking my hurt hand in my mouth, I look around once more, searching for some sign of my mother's survival...or death. For a brief moment I wish I believed in the Goddess Martel so I could send her a prayer.

I make my way to the kitchen, where my mother spent most of her time. Someone took our stove and our table, but I couldn't care less about those. I call out Mama's name, my voice quavering with each shout.

"Mama!" My throat constricts, but I merely swallow and try again. "Mama! Please, are you here?" Tears burn my eyes and I look around, desperate for any sign. "Mama!" This cry is by far the loudest, and with it I collapse to the ground, my face in my hands. I'm sobbing and I can't stop, no matter how much I want to.

After a few minutes, I feel someone place their hand gently on my shoulder. I look up, my face stained with tears, and see Colette looking back at me with her dry blue eyes.

"Brynne," she says softly, and I sob even harder. She doesn't try to comfort me or talk to me, but instead just hugs me, like one would hug a friend in need. The tears keep falling, and we stay like this for what feels like a long time.

Finally, I find the strength in me to stand up, and Colette stands as well. I look to her, tears still in my eyes, and murmur, "Thanks, Colette."

The Chosen smiles sadly back at me, and we return to the rest of the group. Lloyd assaults me with questions of "Are you alright?" and "Is there anything I can do?" and that sort of thing, but I tell him it's just harder to deal with all of this than I thought it would be.

We examine the rest of the town, looking for survivors. We see a lot of dead bodies, but no living ones. As I see people I grew up with and knew, all dead, my stomach tightens even more and I feel like I'm ready to vomit.

"I could have prevented this," I whisper to myself. I thought I was quiet, but both Colette and Kratos, who are nearest to me, stare at me quizzically. I look down at the ground, too ashamed to look anywhere else.

We approach the fountain and see a purple-clad woman kneeling, obviously in pain. There is blood on her hands and her clothes are ripped. I recognize the strange outfit instantly; this is the woman who roomed at my house, Sheena. She looks up at the sounds of our footsteps and cringes.

"You're here?" Genis accuses, the anger clear in his voice.

I'm confused. What's with the sudden anger? I see Raine doesn't seem to trust her either, since she tightens her grip on her staff.

Sheena scoffs. "So it's you guys. Well, if you want to finish me off, go for it. I won't be able to fight back anyway."

Lloyd approaches her, but instead of killing her asks kindly, "What happened here, and why are you hurt?"

Sheena starts to speak but instead coughs, blood splattering on the ground.

Colette turns to Raine. "Please Professor, can you heal her? She's hurt badly!" Her eyes filled with emotion, she continues, "She could die! Please!"

Raine analyzes the situation and says, "I will heal her." She turns her head to Sheena. "But first, I want you to tell us what happened here. This could be a trap; for all we know, she could have companions waiting to catch us off guard."

The injured woman laughs bitterly. Her voice raspy, she hisses, "Well, you're as devious as you look."

Unaffected by this, Raine replies, "Call me what you will. I won't be fooled."

Sheena looks to the fountain, which has been destroyed; water flows from it and the stones that held it all together are thrown about the area. This fountain has always represented Luin. Well, it's a good representation now: much like the town, it's been destroyed, perhaps beyond repair.

"The Desians invaded and ruined everything. Someone in this city was hiding a prisoner who had escaped from the ranch northeast of here, and the Desians found out about it. So the Desians attacked the population, and those who weren't killed were forced to go to the ranch." She coughs heavily, more blood splattering everywhere. She sees me and a spark of recognition enters her eyes.

"You...your mother," she begins to say.

I rush over to her. "What about her?" I plea.

"She was hiding the escapee." So that's why Mama wouldn't let me in the cellar. Sheena coughs once more before continuing, "But he was injured badly, so I took him to Hima, where he would be safe. When I returned, the Desians were attacking, so I fought back."

"Please, tell us how you got injured," Colette requests.

"It...it was nothing. I got clumsy, that's all."

However, given the extent of her injuries, I'm pretty sure clumsiness wasn't the issue.

We hear someone running, and all of our heads turn to see a pastor running from a hideous monster. It's huge, its green skin grotesque beyond belief. There are no eyes on this creature, but instead a lone exsphere in the middle of its supposed face. It swings its arms wildly, and the pastor barely manages to dodge the attack.

"Th-that's...!" Lloyd is so shocked he can't finish his thought.

"It's Clara!" Raine cries out. "She got all the way here from Palmacosta!"

Clara? What? They know this monster? That's absurd.

I don't know how, but Sheena manages to get up. Pulling a card from somewhere (perhaps a hidden pocket?), she yells, "Stay back, you monster!" She goes to throw the card at the monster, but it, in turn, attacks Sheena. She falls to the ground, blood flowing profusely from her newly-acquired wounds.

"Dammit!" Lloyd yells at the same time I cry out, "No!"

I start to nock an arrow, but stop when I see beautiful pink angel wings suddenly sprouting from Colette's body. She flies up to the monster named Clara. "Please, Clara, calm down!" She tries to reason with it, but it in vain. Clara attacks the Chosen, who proceeds to fall to the ground, her wings disappearing. The monster runs off in the opposite direction, leaving us.

"Colette, are you alright?" Genis asks. Poor kid. His face is so pale right now, although I don't blame him. I'm sure I don't look much better.

"Y...yeah, I'm fine." She looks over to Sheena and exclaims, "Professor, look at her! Please, save her!:"

"Indeed, it looks as if she's lost a lot of blood," Kratos commented.

The others proceed to ask the Professor to heal her, and even I chime in, saying that she'll die if no one helps her.

Reluctantly, Raine agrees, although she scolds us all, saying, "You're all way too softhearted for your own good."

The mage approaches the dying woman and casts a healing spell on the woman. I can see her wounds closing up and color returning to her face again. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that she could be saved.

Sheena stands up, leaning on the fountain for a moment before looking at everyone. "Why...why did you save me?"

Lloyd shrugs and says, "Probably for the same reasons you saved that man."

She looks at him, tilting her head slightly, as if she doesn't know how to react. After a moment, she looks up, a sheepish expression on her face, and says, "So, look, I know this will sound really selfish and unreasonable, but do you think that I could ask a favor of you guys?"

"What kind of favor?" Lloyd asks.

"The people of this city helped me out for the past few days. They gave me food and a place to stay," the woman looks at me at this point, "and I'm indebted to them. Please, can you help me save these people? If you agree, I'll declare a truce and I won't hurt any of you. Please."

Lloyd looks around at us all for a moment before saying, "Okay."

With an incredulous look on her face, Raine says, "Are you serious, Lloyd? She tried to kill us before. How do you know she won't do it again?"

Colette, however, is really trusting, for she says, "I trust Lloyd's judgement, and I trust Sheena. I agree with Lloyd."

"Not you too Colette!" Raine seems to have a hard time believing this. "Kratos, tell me you think this is crazy."

"Actually," he replies cooly, "I have no problem with it."

Genis shuffles his feet on the ground when his sister glares him down and mutters, "Sorry Raine."

I know my timing isn't too good, but I say, "Do you think I could come along as well? This is my hometown, and I know-" I cringe "-knew all of these people. Please, let me come to help."

The others, with exception to Raine, who is still upset, agree to let me go along.

With nothing left to do in Luin, we make our way to the Asgard Human Ranch, with little more than determination and a mission: save the remaining townspeople.

As we leave the ruined city behind, I give it one last glance and say to myself, "Someday, I'll restore the hope back in this city. I promise."

--

**A/N: Well, that was a rather dreary chapter. D But it had to be done!**

**Concrit will always be encouraged, as will your feedback!**

**Anyway, thanks for reviewing (for those of you who took the time to do so!), and the next installment will be up soooooon (maybe). Next time: more Desians, Kvar, and exspheres! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Disclaimer time! I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I only own Brynne. (Would that be considered slavery, then?)**

--

I don't know how, but the short trip to the ranch seems to drag on indefinitely. No one talks; there's an awkward silence that seems to hover around us. How can we talk, after witnessing such horrible carnage and wreckage? No one seems to want to be with me. It's as if they're afraid I'll break down and freak out again if someone so much a mentions a word to me. I'm not going to be able to get over the destruction of my town easily, but being able to talk to people would definitely help with it.

I glance over at Sheena, who is flipping her magical cards in her hand. I want to talk to her, to know what happened, but I know that it would be painful for her relive those memories. Despite this, I need to know if the people of Luin put up a good fight or if they just...gave up.

Maybe it would be better if I don't find out, actually.

Colette keeps looking back at me, a sad look on her face. I think she wants to comfort me somehow, but doesn't quite know how to do it. It's really unsettling, having someone continually looking back at me; either keep your head facing forward or talk to me, dammit.

Looking around at the group, the only one who seems to have composure is Kratos. I guess this is to be expected, all things considered: he _is_ a mercenary and has probably seen death and destruction before. I guess he's just seen it so much that he treats it with the same amount of apathy that he treats everything else. His face is just as blank as before, his eyes filled with just as much coldness. It gives me the chills just looking at them.

Actually, the mercenary has been casting odd glances at me throughout the trip. I really don't think he trusts me. Well, I just hope he stops looking at me; it makes me feel self-concious and nervous.

Lloyd's been particularly quiet this trip. Luin's destruction has had a particularly strong affect on him; he doesn't look around and keeps his gaze straight ahead of him, like he's trying to hide something from the rest of us, like he's trying to prevent a stream of tears from falling from his eyes. I don't blame him; I feel the same way right now.

I approach him cautiously, unsure if what I'm doing is the right thing. I reach an arm up and put it on his shoulder, awkwardly patting it a few times. He turns to look at me, his dark brown eyes somber.

"You alright?" I ask quietly, trying not to attract attention from the others.

I see his fists clench and hear him mutter, "Why must there be so much suffering?"

Great. He's one of _those_ people. With a sigh, I say, "That's just the way everything is."

I see I've hit a nerve with him. A spark of passion flickers in his eyes as he says emotionally, "But why? Why do the Desians have to kill so many people? Why have they caused so much destruction? For that matter, why do people let all of this happen?"

I wish I could answer his questions. Unfortunately, these questions have entered my head on more than one occasion as well.

"Look, Lloyd, I don't know why this happens. But what _can_ we do? Not everyone is strong enough to stand up to the Desians." I break eye contact from him, looking down at the ground, hoping he hasn't noted my cowardice.

It's silent for a moment, but then Lloyd replies softly, "We can help Colette regenerate the world. When she does that, the suffering will end."

Neither of us speak for the next few moments; instead, we walk, the silence engulfing us. I absentmindedly pluck the string of my bow, unsure of how to react. The silence isn't necessarily that of an awkward moment; it is that of a moment in which there is nothing left to say.

Finally, in an attempt to bring back some form of communication, I say, "So, I assume that wasn't the first time the Desians have brought destruction into your life." It's not a question.

Lloyd hesitates to respond, and I feel like I've said the wrong thing. However, he recovers quickly, for he replies, "The Desians destroyed Iselia a while back." I say nothing, although I want him to elaborate. He seems to sense my curiosity, for he continues, "When Colette received her oracle, the Desians attacked her at the temple."

"Wait a minute," I interrupt. "I thought Iselia had a non-agression treaty with the Desians _because_ of the Chosen!" I know this because a lot of people in Luin, my mother included, envied that treaty and wanted one for our own city.

"I thought we did too. But they went and broke it, so Genis and I went to the human ranch just outside of town to visit Marble, a friend of Genis's. While there, Marble got beaten by the Desians, so me and Genis attacked them, since they already broke the treaty.

"Well, the next day, when I went into town to see Colette off, the Desians attacked, burning down a lot of the houses and killing many innocent people." He pauses for a moment, and I place an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "It turns out they were attacking because me and Genis sneaked into the ranch. We were punished by fighting a monster, and we had to kill it in order to survive."

He stops, as if what he's about to say is too hard to bear. "Lloyd, what happened?" I ask calmly, trying to pry the last bit of information from him.

His fists are clenched together at this point, and his eyes are clamped shut. "The monster that we fought...it was Marble. They removed her key crest-less exsphere and that turned her into a monster."

My eyes widen as I look at the boy hardly older than myself. The Desians forced him to kill a fellow human being? I know that half-elves are despicable creatures, but I never thought they'd sink _that _low. I can see that this has been eating away at Lloyd, and it's probably been so hard keeping all of that guilt trapped inside of him for so long.

"After that," the brunet says, "the mayor banned me from the town, since it was my fault. He banned Genis as well when he stood up for me. "

So that's what Colette meant when she said Lloyd and Genis were banned.

"Look," I say cautiously, "what happened...from what I hear of it, it's not your fault. The Desians just cause suffering for the sake of causing suffering." They probably would've attacked your town even if you hadn't attacked them. After all, they _did_ attack Colette first.

"I still need to take responsibility for my actions!" he says passionately. "I have to atone for what I've done. I owe it to the people of Iselia. I owe it to Marble and her family." In a quiet voice, he adds, "I owe it to myself."

I sigh. There's no point in trying to convince him otherwise. "Alright then, Lloyd. If that's what you think, fine."

--

We arrive at the ranch late in the evening, the sun setting behind the forest which surrounds us. Using this scenery to our advantage, we spy on the people at the ranch in an attempt to find a way in. Unfortunately, all the ways in seem to be guarded; in fact, the entire area is swarmed by Desians. I guess this is to be expected though, considering the fact that this is a human ranch.

"There's an insane amount of security here!" Genis notes. "It's completely different from last time."

I glance over at him, my eyebrows raised. "There was a last time?"

With a shrug, Lloyd says casually, "We kinda destroyed the human ranch by Palmacosta a while ago."

"Yeah right," I scoff. "How could you guys destroy a human ranch?"

Genis snickers. "Pretty easily if you have Raine on your side." His comment earns him a smack from his sister.

"How are we supposed to get inside?" Colette asks.

Raine starts to say something, but Lloyd interrupts her and replies, "We can disguise ourselves as Desians and sneak in from there!"

The professor looks at her pupil, obviously surprised that he came up with a halfway decent plan. "Well, it looks like the gears in your head move quickly at times like these."

Lloyd appears proud for a moment before realizing what Raine said could also be interpreted as an insult. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a risky plan," I say, looking at all the patrol. "How are we supposed to get uniforms from some of them?"

"Perhaps we should ambush one of the patrol groups as they pass by," Kratos suggests.

"Sounds good to me!" Lloyd exclaims, the excitement of battle taking over.

The others agree to this plan, and we hide behind some trees and wait. Half an hour passes by before we catch sign of a group of three: two female soldiers and one male mage. Having planned this during the wait, Lloyd, Kratos, and Sheena ambush the group, with Raine and Genis at the back casting spells and Colette and me using long-ranged attacks unless otherwise needed.

I nock an arrow and aim for the mage first. He's the most dangerous of the three, so it's only logical to try to take him out first. I charge my arrow with magic, using some of my mana to create a layer of ice over it. I cry out, "Ice Arrow!" and watch as it flies towards the mage. Unfortunately, he throws up a shield, stopping the arrow before it hits him. What's more, the force of the arrow hitting the shield forces it to shatter.

Damn.

I frown, seeing how my magic alone won't be enough. I hear Genis finish reciting an incantation and watch as a water-based attack hits one of the soldiers. An idea suddenly forms in my head, and I run back to Genis.

"Hey Genis," I say as I approach him, "do you know any fire or ice-based spells?"

He smirks, as if it's a ridiculous question. "Of course I do. Why?"

I smile. "Just charge up a fire attack and aim for the mage, alright?"

"Got it." From the look on his face, Genis already knows what I'm planning.

I charge up a fire arrow, waiting for Genis to finish his spell. As he reaches the end of it, I get ready to let go. I hear him yell out, "Fire Ball!" and I call out, "Fire Arrow!" The two attacks hit the mage at once, and the force of them breaks the shield he's thrown up. I high-five Genis and watch as Lloyd uses Tempest on the mage. He falls to the ground and doesn't get back up.

I've never contributed to someone's death until now. I hate to admit it, but it feels good, especially since it's these people's fault my town got destroyed.

There's only one soldier left. I nock another arrow and fire it at her, getting her right in the shoulder. Colette throws one of her chakrams and nails the woman right in her abdomen, a bright red slash staining the uniform. With a powerful thrust, Kratos stabs her from behind; she lets out one last cry of pain before falling to the ground. I don't think she'll be getting up any time soon.

Raine suggests we move the bodies into the forest, where they won't be discovered, and we grab the corpses. Lloyd and I grab the mage's body: he grabs the legs, I grab the arms. I see something glimmer on the corpse's hand: an exsphere. Despite myself, a grin forms on my face, and I take it, key crest and all. Lloyd gives me a quizzical look as he sees my actions, but I shrug.

"He won't be needing it anymore," I say simply.

I don't think Lloyd appreciates this philosophy too much.

Once we hide the bodies and take one of the soldier's uniforms (only one is usable - the mage's uniform is bloodstained and burnt, while the other solder's uniform is ripped and, frankly, smells like body odor), we scurry out of the base, hoping to remain unseen. We set up camp a few miles away, wanting to be close enough to break in tomorrow. Genis prepares a dinner of meat stew, with Raine trying to help (I say _trying_ because Genis keeps telling her to go away and refuses to take any ingredients from her. Raine looks hurt, but when Lloyd says charcoal tastes better than Raine's cooking, I find myself siding with Genis).

Lloyd sits by the fire, sword sharpener in hand. I watch, fascinated. I mean, I own a dagger, but I've never really sharpened it. I'm pretty dependent on my bow and arrows, so I've never really cared for my weapons.

The brunet teen sees me watching him and cocks his head to the side. "Uh...what's up?"

I laugh; it's clear he's not used to getting female attention, except for maybe Colette, and even then it seems like their relationship is that of a brother and sister. "Nothing, really. I've just never seen someone sharpening a sword before."

"Oh." Lloyd shrugs. "I've only just started to do it. Kratos always tells me I need to keep my weapons in top condition. He says a sword is merely an extension of the arm, so I need to treat it like I'd treat myself: if I get blood on it, I need to wash it off, or else it'll rust; if it gets dull, I need to sharpen it, because if I don't I'm risking my own life. Little things like that."

"Wow," I say, fascinated. "I never knew there was so much work in maintaing a sword." I pull out my dagger from my sheathe and show it to him. "Do you think this needs to be sharpened?"

He grabs it from me, looking over it like a craftsman examines his work. He pulls of a glove and tests the edge with his finger; a spurt of blood escapes from it. "It looks good for now," he says as he hands it back to me.

I stuff it back in its sheath and look back at him. The exsphere on his hand glimmers, the light from the fire reflecting off of it. That reminds me of the exsphere I swiped from the Desian mage earlier today. I reach into my bag and pull out the sphere and the key crest.

"I can't help but notice you have an exsphere, and I was wondering if you knew how to equip these to a person's body." I wouldn't normally ask for help, but I've heard that bad things could happen to a person if they equip an exsphere incorrectly.

"Is that the one you stole today?" he asks in an accusatory voice.

I clench my fist around the key crest. What does it matter if I stole it? Would he rather the Desians take it back and use it on another mage, one that could kill us?

"Yes, it is," I reply, meeting his brown eyes with my green ones. "Does it matter? I'm gonna need all the help I can get if I'm gonna help you guys at the ranch tomorrow."

Lloyd sighs. "Fine. I'll show you."

Turns out it's a lot easier than I'd thought to equip the exsphere. First you place the crest on your dominant hand (in my case, my right hand). Then, you place the exsphere in the crest, and you're done.

That just makes me feel like an idiot.

I thank him and then let him get back to caring for his swords. I delicately trace the intricate carvings in the key crest, looking at the dark orb resting in it. Even now, I feel a strange sensation rushing through me: it's warm, like when you drink hot coffee; my senses seem heightened (not by much, but more than before); my arms, which were previously sore from the fight, seem to feel better.

I think I'm gonna like having this exsphere.

--

After we eat, the seven of us circle around the fire and discuss our game plan for tomorrow. We need to figure out who will be the Desian and who will be the prisoners, how we will get in, and what we will do once we get in. Since everyone but Sheena and myself have already been to a Human Ranch, they have a general idea of what it'll be like. Raine suspects there'll be a computer system into which she can hack, so she says she'll be able to bring up a map of the place when we get there.

"But..how?" I've never been good with new technology, so I don't understand how she'll be able to get a map.

"You'll see when we get there," Raine says simply.

"So who's going to be the Desian?" Colette asks.

Lloyd waves his hand furiously. "Me me me me me! I wanna be the Desian!"

I nearly faceplant when I hear him. This guy, who just thirty minutes ago was telling me how to take care of a weapon, is now acting like three-year-old who wants to get his way.

Kratos says in an annoyed voice, "This isn't a game Lloyd."

Lloyd stops waving his hand, and his face falls. Leave it to the mercenary to bring down a person's spirits.

"The only usable uniform is a female's," Raine informs us, "So that means either myself, Sheena, or Brynne will wear it."

"Why not Colette?" Sheena asks

"I...don't think she'd be a good Desian," Raine replies. We all look at the Chosen, who smiles cheerfully at us. She'd make a good Desian the day gald falls from the sky.

Sheena accepts this response. "Well, I took the liberty of getting a Desian outfit already." We give her questioning looks, and she explains, "When I was staying with Brynne's mom, she was saying how there were a lot of people from Luin there. I started forming a plan to try to rescue them, in hopes of paying the town back, but then it got attacked, and..." She doesn't finish her sentence.

"Well then," the silver-haired woman says after a moment, "that leaves Brynne and myself." She pulls out the uniform, and the two of us look over it. It's meant for someone who is on the curvier side and for someone of average height.

"I think you'd be better off with it," I say. Raine cringes; I don't think she wants to wear the skimpy outfit.

"I suppose you're right," she admits unhappily, "since you are...taller."

And by taller, she means I'm not very well-endowed. Or maybe she does mean I'm freakishly tall. Or both.

With all of this decided, we call it a night and go to bed. We need all the strength we can get for tomorrow. Who know who we'll be up against.

--

_There's yelling and screaming everywhere. It's nighttime, but fire surrounds me, oranges and reds everywhere. Buildings cough out smoke, the dark haze obscuring the starry sky. I breathe it, taste it, despise it._

_I see people running for their lives, carrying precious items: children, pets, mementos, money. I also see people running into homes with empty sacks and leaving them with bulging bags. People in armor carrying whips chase after the townspeople, the snaps of their weapons meeting my ears; cries of pain often follow these snaps._

_My instincts tell me to run away, to save my life. But I find myself unable to move; I look down and see that instead of feet, my legs simply meet the ground._

_I'm trapped._

_My mother steps before me, her blue eyes brilliant and intense. Tears fall from them, and my stomach tightens. Has she been hurt? I try to open my mouth, ask her what's wrong, but my mouth won't open; it's as if someone has sewn it shut._

_"Brynne." Her voice seems to echo, overpowering all other sounds. _

_"Mmmfff!" I wave my hands wildly, trying to get her attention, trying to get her to leave._

_She puts her clasped hands to her chest. "You've hurt me, Brynne. You didn't help me when I needed it."_

_My eyes widen. I want to say that I _couldn't_ help her, but my mother says one more thing:_

_"You're just like your father."_

_There's a saying that one of my teachers taught me when I was younger: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Well, that saying is a lie. My mother's words stab me sharper than a sword, harder than any punch I've ever received, more painful than any feeling I've felt before. All these years, trying to be as unlike my father as humanly possible, all in vain._

_In the end, I hurt her just like my father did eighteen years ago._

_A Desian approaches my mother, a sword in hand. She turns, sees the man, and does nothing. He swings his sword, and the next thing I know, her head rolls towards my body. Her eyes, as wide and blue as ever, stare up to me, and her words echo in my head._

_"You're just like your father."_

_**"You're just like your father."**_

_--_

I snap my eyes open and find myself on my side, looking at the dying fire. The flames remind me of my dream, so I sit up and look away. Cool beads of sweat trace my cheeks, and I can hear myself breathing heavily. I stick my head in my hands, trying to erase my dream from my memory.

When I close my eyes, the image of Mama's severed head enters my own.

"Fantastic," I murmur, rubbing my temples. I glance around and see the others sleeping. Genis' snoring fills the air, and Lloyd mutters something about evil tomatoes. Raine's fast asleep, and Sheena turns so she's on her back. However, I don't see two members of the group: Kratos and Colette.

"Brynne?" I turn to see Colette looking a me, a concerned expression on her face. "Are you alright?"

I sigh. "I will be. Just had a really bad dream."

Colette smiles. "Well, I couldn't sleep, and Kratos is on night watch, so we were looking at the stars. You're more than welcome to join us, if you want.

I find my lips curving upward at the offer. "Sure. Sounds nice."

I join them, and it's actually very soothing. Kratos knows a lot about the stars - he points out constellations that I never even knew existed, and he explains how some of them stars are actually distant planets. It's really fascinating. It also take my mind off of my dream.

It's nice to have some solace, if only for a few moments.

--

The next morning we head towards the ranch. Rain falls from the sky, but instead of it being a steady heavy rain, it shifts; it'll pour for a few minutes, and then the rainfall will lessen and it'll be more like mist than rain. Within moments we're all miserable.

However, the trip goes quickly otherwise, since we avoid the monsters that are wandering about. When we arrive at the ranch, Raine and Sheena make their way to the front of the group, acting as our captors. When stopped by the guards, Raine takes over and claims to have caught the wanted criminal Lloyd Irving. I look at the boy and force back a snicker; I can only imagine what he must've done to piss off the Desians.

In any case, we're let through, and all of the guards in the preliminary rooms congratulate Raine and Sheena, although I also catch some envious glares mixed in. I guess some of the others wanted to catch him and get the glory.

We soon find ourselves in the control room. There are strange machines that seem foreign to me. The technology seems so advanced, it's a struggle to even believe what I'm seeing. I guess the Desians aren't too keen on sharing their knowledge.

"Hey guys, what's this?" Colette asks as she looks through a window on the side of the room.

We all go over to where she is and look through it. There's a large machine in the middle of a giant room, with conveyor belts going in and out of it. We can't see the input from here, but we can see the output: exspheres.

"It looks like an exsphere manufacturing plant," Raine observes.

"So it would seem," Kratos mutters.

We watch for a moment, fascinated. I've never really thought about how exspheres were made, but seeing them getting processed makes me wonder what's used in them. A lot of mana is probably needed, but I don't know where the Desians would get that mana, especially with the depletion of mana here in Sylvarant.

Colette suddenly turns around, a worried look on her face. "I hear voices coming from the next room," she states, clutching her hands to her heart.

Glancing his silvery-blue eyes at the Chosen, Genis says quizzically, "I don't hear anything."

Unsheathing his swords, Lloyd says, "Well, be careful anyway."

We all grab our weapons, preparing for any kind of attack. I nock an arrow and point it at the door, ready to release it at any moment. The door that we entered just moments ago opens, and three men enter the room: two Desians in full armor and a large man with spiky brown hair and the pointed ears of a half-elf.

"You!" the brown-haired man accuses. I almost expect him to point a finger at us; alas, the man does not live up to my expectations.

"There are the Desians from Triet!" Lloyd points one of his swords at them as he says this. So the group ran into these guys before now? Well, I guess they _have_ been busy.

One of the soldiers laughs, and the other one says through his own chuckles, "They still think we're Desians?"

The other turns to the brown-haired man. "Sir, this is the perfect chance!"

Kratos comes to our rescue, stepping between us and the Desians. Unsheathing his sword, he says, "Are you looking for a fight, Botta?"

The large man, who is apparently Botta, looks reluctantly at the intimidating man and commands reluctantly, "Retreat for now. Kratos is with them."

"You know them?" I ask, confused.

"We ran into them at Triet and Iselia," the mercenary replies in his emotionless voice.

Scrutinizing us with his dark brown eyes, Botta suggests, "I believe it would be in both our interests to save our fight for later."

"Do what you will." Kratos' gaze never leaves them as they try to run off.

Lloyd attempts to follow, but three new soldiers appear. They must've recited the incantation for some spells already, since they automatically cast some spells at us. I, unfortunately, don't know any defensive spells, so I hide behind my arms and hope someone intercepts the spells before they hit me. Through the gap between my arms, I see Kratos perform a Guardian spell and Colette perform a Damage Guard spell. Both of them successfully shield the spell.

While the new soldiers are distracted, the original three run off. It seems weird that Desians would run away from their own kind. However, I'm not given much time to dwell on this, since a new person appears through another door.

He's a little taller than Lloyd, with slicked back, dull blonde hair. His eyes are small and narrow; they're more like slits in his face than eyes. His features are very angular and pointed, from his face to his half-elf ears. I feel an inexplicable rush of hatred surging through me.

Those strange, creepy eyes analyze us. In a condescending tone, he says, "Well, I heard some rats had managed to find their way into my ranch. I assumed it was Botta and his renegades, but instead..." He smirks as he looks at each of us. "Well, it turns out it's the wanted inferior beings. I must admit that I'm quite impressed you survived that attack. Those were some of my best mages."

Lloyd, swords drawn and face filled with the same emotions that I feel rushing through me, hisses, "Who are you?" I never knew that happy-go-lucky Lloyd could summon such venom in his voice.

The man looks incredulous. "You barge into my ranch and then demand my name from me?"

"Yeah, it's usually the other way," Genis mutters to Lloyd. What a brat.

"Not the time, Genis," Lloyd says through clenched teeth.

"He's Kvar, one of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals," Kratos says with his infinite wisdom. I look at him and see some emotion enter his eyes: hatred and anger.

I guess a lot of us seem to hate this guy for some unknown reason.

"Well, I see some of you know me," Kvar states. "It's just as Forcystus said. That exsphere is, without a doubt, the product of my Angelus Project!" He points at Lloyd as he says this. "Get it!"

More Desians appear, and Colette throws one of her chakrams at them as a distraction. We run through the opposite door, where the exspheres are being produced.

In the manufacturing room, we see the conveyor belts once more, where exspheres are leaving the machine. However, from here, we can see the input. As I turn, I feel the blood leave my face. My heart falls and my jaw drops.

Humans are the input!

"No," I whisper. "It can't be."

Kvar follows us and says with an amused look on his face, "This is where the exspheres are removed from the host bodies."

"So exspheres are made from...human bodies?" There's disgust in Raine's voice as she reaffirms this.

"Not exactly. Exspheres are dormant at first; they need to extract nourishment from the humans to grow and awaken." Smirking, the wretched half-elf finishes, "Human ranches are exsphere manufacturing plants. Why else would we want to raise and take care of these inferior beings?"

My fist clenches; it's men like these that make me hate the elven blood that flows within me.

"That's terrible!" Genis exclaims, shocked.

"Terrible?" Kvar turns to the young boy. "Terrible is what you've done. Stealing and using exspheres that we've invested so much time into creating. You are the ones that deserve to be punished."

Glaring at the brunet boy, the half-elf says, "I'll be needing your exsphere now, Lloyd. That was supposed to be a gift for Lord Yggdrasill."

"Your leader," Raine states.

"Yes. Now, for the sake of our great Leader, and for my own success, I need that exsphere."

"Why mine? What's so special about it?" Lloyd snaps. I hope he can control his emotions until we find a way out of here...although I must admit _I'm _having trouble controlling myself.

Kvar doesn't seem to be in a hurry; perhaps he believes he's finally won. Whatever the reason, he answers Lloyd's question. "That was the result of years of research that the filthy female host stole eighteen years ago."

"Female host body?" Lloyd looks at him questioningly. "You don't mean..."

Kvar just seems to be eating this all up. "You don't know much of anything, do you? That exsphere was cultured on host body A012, human name Anna. Your mother." He laughs and continues, "She took it with it her when she escaped; however, she paid for her crimes with her life."

Lloyd's fist clenches. "You...you killed my mother! You bastard!"

The half-elf lets loose a venomous cackle. "Don't give me all the credit. I didn't kill Anna. Your father did."

Lloyd's face is completely red, and I see his hands clasped around his swords' hilts, ready to attack. "Liar!" he snarls, his eyes flooded with hatred.

As nonchalant as ever, Kvar replies, "She lacked a key crest, so when her exsphere was removed, she turned into a monster, and your father killed her." He casts a glance at Kratos, for some reason. "Pathetic, don't you think."

The mercenary glares daggers at the Desian grand cardinal. With a hiss, he says, "Do not speak ill of the dead." It's strange - there's emotion in his voice! His voice has more control in it than Lloyd's, but I think he's just as pissed as the brunet.

I don't know why, though. It's not like Anna was Kratos' mother, or anything. Maybe he just doesn't like this man.

"Who cares?" Kvar's cruelty emanates through his nonchalant words. "They were just a bunch of filthy inferior beings!" He snaps, and a horde of Desian soldiers surround us. There's no way for us to escape; we'll be taken as prisoners!

I'd rather die.

Suddenly, Sheena pulls out a card and mutters something. A moment later, a strange creature appears. It floats lazily in the air for a moment, before turning to us. With a wave of one of its numerous arms, we disappear in a large puff of smoke.

--

We're outside the human ranch now. It's pouring, but we run for our lives. The Desians will be chasing after us at any moment. We all thank Sheena for saving our lives, and we decide to run all the way to Luin. It's a hard trip, but it's safer than staying in the fields.

Although we're all exhausted by the time we've arrived, we make great time. The seven of us are cold, wet, and miserable, but we're all alive, and that's what's important.

As Genis attempts to start a fire, I look at Lloyd, who seems out of it, no doubt because of everything he just heard. I wonder if someone should talk to him, but when I approach him, Raine stops me and says he needs some time alone. With a sigh, I sit down on the ground and try to make myself useful. It's going to be a long night.

--

**A/N: I know this one was a bit longer than the other chapters, but I couldn't find a good place to cut it off, so...voila.**

**I'm still open to suggestions for pairings!**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Eeep! I'm sorry that it's been a while since I've updated. Marching band and summer homework kinda consumed my life, so…yeah. Sorry. Also, just a warning, there will be some gore in this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Brynne. Huzzah.**

--

Thankfully, the rain decreases into a light drizzle at this point. Genis is able to create a fire despite the wet weather, and he makes a vegetable stew for dinner. I've never been one for veggies, but at this point I'll eat anything that's warm. While we eat, we can't help but discuss the information we learned at the ranch.

"I can't believe that exspheres are made from human lives," Sheena mutters, looking at the exsphere on her hand.

Genis, too, has one and says in a quiet voice, "This is Marble's life."

Everyone who has an exsphere equipped looks uncomfortable, with exception to Kratos. I think he might've already known about how exspheres are created.

"Dammit! How can we use these...things?" Lloyd grabs the exsphere from his hand and removes it from its key crest. It looks as if he's about to throw it away, and I don't blame him. With my key crest, I don't know whose life was sacrificed; Lloyd knows his mother died to create that exsphere.

Colette leaps up and moves in front of Lloyd, preventing him from throwing his dark blue orb. "Lloyd, think about this for a minute. What will you accomplish by removing that?" She adds in a quieter voice, "It's not just an exsphere, Lloyd: it's your mother's life!"

The brunet's face scrunches up in pain. "But...these things make a mockery of human life! I can't use something like this!"

Kratos's red eyes meet Lloyd's brown ones, and the mercenary says, "We would have lost a long time ago if we didn't have them."

His face reddening, the boy snaps, "Don't you think I know that?"

The auburn-haired man stands up and approaches Lloyd, towering over him. "Do you really? Do you think you'll be of any help at all without that exsphere? Do you think you can finish this journey without it?"

Lloyd tears his gaze away from Kratos and places it on the exsphere. "I...I know that. I know that without these, were just a bunch of weak humans. The only reason why we can fight is because we have these. I know that."

But then he looks back at Kratos, his brown eyes passionate. "But exspheres exist as a result of taking someone's life!"

Kratos keeps his face amazingly unemotional; I don't even know how he does it. He gives Lloyd a look that seems to say, "What's your point?"

"Although these people didn't choose to be victims, I highly doubt they'd want to be thrown away after getting turned into exspheres," Kratos states.

As much as I hate to admit it, Kratos _does_ make a valid point. I wouldn't want to be tossed aside like garbage if I'd been killed and turned into an exsphere.

Colette, who's been by Lloyd's side the entire time, speaks up once more and says, "I know I don't use an exsphere, so my opinion may not matter as much, but I can see how much these exspheres help everyone. Genis's spells are stronger; Raine can heal us much more efficiently; even Brynne has shown some improvement in her fighting."

Resting a hand on his shoulder, she continues, "I believe that if we stop using them, the Desians will be able to defeat us." She looks as if she's about to cry; however, tears don't appear from her eyes. "And if the Desians defeat us, then more people will lose their lives to these stones, and I don't want that to happen.

"I don't want this journey to be meaningless."

Colette's last sentence strikes a chord will all of us. This journey is crucial to the survival of the world, and if she dies, then everyone suffers. Can we really sacrifice the world because of our personal opinions?

The mercenary nods, saying, "Colette's right. We can discard these exspheres at any time; but right now, we must carry the weight of the hopes and dreams of the victims and fight for their sake, as well as ours." His cold gaze meeting Lloyd's, he accuses, "Didn't you say you weren't going to hesitate anymore?"

The swordsman grabs a fistful of his hair. "I...I just can't! I know you're right, but...I just need some time for myself right now." He runs off, and the rest of us look around, unsure of what to do.

"Just give him time," Kratos says simply. I sigh; this is why I don't like getting caught up with other people's affairs.

The rest of us clean up and set up camp for the evening. As Colette and I set up a tent (rather unsuccessfully, I might add), we see Kratos go off in the direction that Lloyd went. I look to Colette, slightly confused.

"Is Kratos going to try to talk to Lloyd?" I ask.

She shrugs. "Maybe. I think it's best if Kratos talks to him. Their relationship is like that of two brothers: Kratos is the older, wiser one who tries to guide him; Lloyd is the younger, less experienced one who goes to him for advice. It's nice; Lloyd's always wanted an older brother." She smiles. "It took a while for the two to warm up to each other, but Kratos and Lloyd actually go off to train on some occasions, so I'm sure that's helped build their relationship."

"Really?" Well, this is all news to me. "Kratos doesn't seem like the type to get close to someone," I say rather blandly. "He's rather standoffish."

Still smiling, the blonde replies, "I think he just tries to act like that because he's a mercenary. Really, I think he's a kind person at heart."

Judging by the way Colette normally acts, I think she'd say that about a cold-blooded murderer. But hey, if that's what she thinks, then so be it.

"If you say so."

The two of us struggle for many more minutes until Sheena comes to our rescue, explaining how to set up a tent _correctly_. Turns out there's more to it than just setting up some sticks and throwing a thick cloth over it.

I glance over and see that Raine and Genis have also set up a tent. Theirs looks a lot better than ours, but in all fairness, I've never set up a tent before and Colette is Colette. Either way, both tents will hold up against the rainy weather, and that's what counts.

It's only after all the chores are done and everyone's ready for bed that Lloyd and Kratos return. Well, actually, Kratos arrives a few minutes before Lloyd, but either way the two managed to get out of doing any chores. Lloyd seems to be in a better mood than before, so I guess I have to give some credit to Kratos; when something needs to be said, he always knows the right things to say.

We've got nothing else to do but sleep, so we go to our respective tents (girls in one, boys in the other). Colette tries to talk to us, treating this like a girls' night out instead of a trip to save the world; thankfully, Raine scolds her and tells us to go to sleep. With the rain pounding on the tent, I wait for sleep to come to me.

--

_I'm stuck in a tree. This wouldn't normally be a problem, except the tree is as tall as the Tower of Salvation. I cling onto a sturdy branch; should I let go, I'll fall thousands of feet to the hard, unforgiving ground. I look down at the world below me; everything is so small, so insignificant. I can see oceans, rivers, valleys, mountains...it's stunning._

_I can see all the wonders of the world, and also all the horrors. I look down, and it's as if I have a telescope: my gaze focuses on a group that's traveling throughout Sylvarant. They're surrounded by winged creatures, all of whom are heavily armed and emanating powerful amounts of mana. I try to call out to the travelers, but I can't; it's as if someone's removed my vocal chords. I wave furiously, but they don't see me: I'm too far away._

_One of the travelers, a boy clad in red, unsheathes two swords, which gleam and shine in the fading sunlight. An azure exsphere glistens on his hand as he attacks one of the creatures. He leaps up and, swords clasped together and pointing in front of him, stabs the creatures, flinging his arms out at he slashes its abdomen. He grins, growing cocky, and turns to meet another foe. He doesn't notice one of the monsters approaching him, and I try in vain to warn him of the foe._

_My perspective seems to turn, and I see the boy's face as the creature stabs him in the back. Blood seeps from his lips as an expression of pain and surprise enters his face. He falls, a dark ruby liquid staining the emerald grass._

_A silver-haired child runs to him, only to meet the same fate as the boy. The others seem to realize if they approach the bodies, they'll get killed; however, despite remaining motionless, the winged monsters attack them. A lavender-clad ninja and a staff-wielding woman both get killed instantly. _

_An auburn-haired man in a rich violet outfit stands in front of a girl with the angelic wings, who cries out as she witnesses her friends dying. One of the creatures flies towards the girl, and in an attempt to protect her, the man pushes her away, taking the brunt of the attack. A sword embedded in his abdomen, he falls, his eyes growing dull and faded. _

_The girl tries to fly away, but the creatures grab her and hold her tight. She struggles, but she can't escape. One of the creatures holds a sharp bloodstained knife. I'm able to see its face, and I see a sadistic gleam in its dark, haunting eyes. It lifts the knife high above its head before bringing it down with an astounding amount of speed. _

_A girl's cry echoes throughout the world as an angel's wing falls to the ground. _

_As unmerciful as before, the monster repeats it heinous act, amputating the girl's remaining wing. The creatures let go of the girl, whose pure white outfit is stained with blood. They collect her wings and then leave, forcing her to die a slow and painful death. _

_My heart plummets. Why couldn't I save them? Why was I forced to watch these innocent people die? With nothing left to do, I release the branch and fall._

_--_

I gasp as I wake up. Despite the cold air around me, I feel sweat trickling down my face. My heart races, its thumping echoing in my ears. I stare up at the dark ceiling as I remember my dream.

I saw everyone in the world regeneration group die, and I saw Colette get horribly mutilated.

Shit. It's just a dream, I try to tell myself. It didn't really happen. To reassure myself, I force myself to turn my head and look at the others: Sheena and Raine are both sleeping peacefully, but Colette's looking at me with a concerned expression on her face.

Seeing me staring at her, she whispers, "Are...you alright, Brynne?"

Déjà vu. I sigh, glad to see she's okay. "Not really," I mutter, "but I'll deal with it. It was just a nightmare."

The blonde girl sighs, unhappy with my bad dreams. "Well, the rain's stopped for now. You want to look at the stars again? Maybe that'll help you feel better."

I nod, and we go outside where, to neither of our surprise, we see Kratos keeping night watch. He watches us silently as we sit underneath one of the trees and stare up at the sky above us. It's still really cloudy, so I can't see the stars, but it's better being out in the open than being confined in that tent.

I have a feeling Colette and I will be stargazing a lot throughout this trip.

--

The next morning, over a breakfast of pancakes that Genis and I make (I use my mother's recipe, which is, of course, a huge success with the group), Lloyd announces that he will use his exsphere on the rest of the journey. He says he doesn't want any more victims, like the people who were made into the exspheres. He seems to think if he helps Colette regenerate the world, everything will get better.

Sure, the world will get better; after all, that's why the Chosen goes on her journey. But does he really expect people to change the way they are? Does he expect people to hate others less because they're different? Does he expect everything to just magically work out? Does he expect everyone to live forever?

Perhaps I'm just too cynical for my own good. But still, it's ridiculously idealistic to think like that: it's so irrational.

We pack up camp, but we don't know what to do. I mean, it's not like we can go back to the Human Ranch; Kvar will have places twice the amount of guards around the place as before, and we won't be able to sneak in like last time.

"Sheena, didn't you mention a prisoner had escaped from the ranch?" Raine asks suddenly.

"Yeah. He's in Hima right now." She seems to understand what Raine's implying, for she continues, "He should still be there, so we can ask him how he escaped!"

"To Hima!" Lloyd cries out, unsheathing his sword and pointing it in the air in a heroic stance. However, he loses his heroic aura as he says, "Uh...where _is _Hima?"

I swear, this kid is a moron. "I know the way," I reply. "I've been there on a few occasions." I got a little lost when exploring one time and found myself in the quiet little mountain town. I liked it, so I made sure to find out how to get there. Turns out my exploration is finally coming in handy for something.

Sheena knows the way too, since she took Pietro to the town, so the two of us lead the group. She doesn't really talk much to me, but I try to instigate some conversation; after all, us two are the outsiders in the group, and we have to stick together!

"So where exactly are you from?" I ask, genuinely curious. Her clothes are eccentric, and I want to know what town could possibly have clothes like that. Perhaps she's from Asgard, and she's wearing some ceremonial robe, or something.

"Uh...I'm not from here," she replies, taken aback.

I laugh. "No duh! I'm just curious, since your clothes are...different."

"Where I'm from isn't important right now." She stops talking, and I know I'm not going to get any more information from her.

The trip goes smoothly, although we run into a lot of monsters on the way. However, I'm able to experiment with my exsphere and, in the process, learn a whole mess of techniques: for example, if I aim an arrow at the ground and call out the incantation, a wave of mana will force rocks and gravel to attack the foe; or, if I power up the spell, lightning will encase the arrow. Also, in addition to my magic being strengthened, Kratos has noticed my defensive skills are, for lack of better word, nonexistent and teaches me a few techniques. Now I can use Damage Guard to throw a shield of mana around me, protecting me from lots of weak attacks and providing some means of defense against the stronger ones.

As much as I hate how they're created, I have to admit that stealing that exsphere was one of the best things I've ever done.

As we climb the mountain trail to Hima, Lloyd whines about how cold it is and how he's tired. I sigh and roll my eyes, wondering how the rest of the group can tolerate his complaining. Genis verbalizes these opinions, which just makes Lloyd pout like a little kid.

If I hadn't been stuck with him for a week, I would've found it humorous.

As we make it to the mountain town, I inhale the brisk mountain air and find myself at ease. Although this town is little more than a few scattered cottages and an inn, I like the quiet, easy-going feeling that I get whenever I'm here. There're only about fifty people here including us, and half of these people are explorers.

Yeah, it's a really small town.

We enter the inn, where Sheena asks for a woman named Sophia. A few moments later, a tired-looking maid appears and automatically recognizes Sheena. The purple-clad woman introduces all of us briefly and then asks about Pietro.

Sophia immediately grows somber. "He...he passed away," she replies.

Oh, well that's just fine and dandy.

Genis asks after a moment, "Did he say anything about a human ranch or something before he died?"

"I...I don't know," the maid replies. "I-I don't even know if he escaped!"

She stumbles over her words, which makes me think she's hiding something. Sure, it's got to be upsetting having someone die, but not _so_ upsetting that you can't answer a simple yes or no question.

"What about his possessions?" Raine's dark blue eyes examine the woman, and I get the feeling she's just as suspicious as I am.

Sophia doesn't answer for a moment, as if she's thinking about something. "He...didn't have any."

Bullshit.

"Could you tell us where his grave is?" the silver-haired elf inquires.

"Back behind the inn, at the adventurers' graveyard." We go to leave, but she stops us suddenly. "Uh...please don't go digging up his grave!"

I raise my eyebrows, completely sure she's hiding something. Why would someone tell someone else not to dig someone's grave? Do we look like necrophiliacs? In any case, we go to the graveyard and see the freshly-dug grave. Everyone but Raine, Kratos, and myself rush towards it.

"We should pray for his soul," Colette says, as Chosen-like as ever. Sheena, Lloyd, Genis, and Colette all pray.

I turn to Raine. "Is it just me, or did Sophia act like she was hiding something?" I mutter, not wanting the others to hear.

A see a small smile form on the professor's lips. "I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed."

I think I've just earned some respect from the elven woman. I just hope that means she trusts me a bit more. Now all I need is to get Kratos to not completely hate me.

As we watch the others pray, I hear footsteps approaching us. I turn and see a man with filthy clothes and matted brown hair walking towards us. His dark eyes are dull, and his face has an oily appearance to it. He's muttering some words that sound like, "Chosen" and "Die."

I reach for my dagger and run to Colette to protect her. Kratos does the same, and Raine grabs her staff, ready to beat the hobo. However, he stops before us and just keeps saying the same words over and over again. I cast a quizzical glance at Lloyd, who shrugs.

"Pietro?" Sheena exclaims. "I thought you were dead!"

What the...? This man is the man my mother risked her life to protect? This man is the man that Sophia said was _dead_? I didn't know the dead could walk and talk.

Speaking of Sophia, the maid runs up the mountain path, a worried look on her face. As she sees the man, relief washes over her. "Ah. Here you are!" She takes him like a mother would take her child, gently taking his hands.

"Boulder...big...underground...jewel...boulder...move...Chosen." Strange words flow out of Pietro's mouth, and I wonder if he's suffering from something that my mother would call a "special condition." Maybe he got dropped on his head when he was younger.

"What does he mean by that?" Genis asks. "Is that the escape route?"

Sophia turns and glares at us. "Leave him alone!"

Sheena steps in front of us and confronts the small woman. "No. You may be happy to just protect Pietro, but countless people are dead or prisoners at the Human Ranch because of his man!" Her face is red with fury. "Help us out a little!"

The maid doesn't seem to know how to react now - she's probably not used to having people confront her like this. "Look, I'm sure if Pietro could speak, he would, but he's cursed, so..."

"He may be cursed, but he's still alive. The dead can't tell us anything." Lloyd looks at Sophia. "Please, help us."

The woman doesn't respond, so Colette come in. "We want to go back to the ranch," she begins. "If it's possible to get out, it's also possible to get in, right?" She clasps her hands in front of her in a pleading manner. "Please, help us."

Sophia sighs. "I'll help you, but in exchange you need to lift this curse." Raine's about to ask how, but she continues, "The healing technique is supposedly left behind by Boltzman in the Tower of Mana."

We all know we have little choice here. "All right," Raine responds. "We'll do it. But infiltrating the ranch comes first, no matter what."

Sophia nods. "When Pietro escaped, he said he came out through the front yard and he blocked the exit with a boulder." Nodding towards the grave, she continues, "His possessions are in his grave. You can take them with you."

Colette smiles and approaches the woman. "Thank you so much for this. I promise we'll come back to heal him when we get the healing technique."

The maid simply nods and takes the cursed man away. Once they're out of sight, we approach the grave. I pull out my dagger and start digging with it. Kratos mentions that I should treat my weapons with more care, but I ignore him. What does he know; he's only a mercenary, for crying out loud. After a few inches, I hit a small box. As I dig out the box, I can't help but think that whoever buried this box didn't put a lot of effort into it.

I open the box and find a small blue orb resting inside of it. I take it out and turn it over in my hand, inspecting it. I hand it over to Raine, who seems to want to examine it, and say, "What are we supposed to do with a small blue orb?"

"We'll find out when we return to the ranch," Kratos replies gruffly.

I roll my eyes, and Lloyd groans. "We just got here!" he says. "Can we at least stay at the inn overnight and then head out in the morning?" It's surprisingly late - the sun has completely set behind the mountains.

As much as I hate his whining, I have to agree that staying at an inn holds more appeal than staying out in the wild again. The two adults reluctantly agree to stay in Hima, though Kratos doesn't seem too happy about it. I think he wants to get to the ranch as soon as possible, for reasons unbeknownst to me.

We go down to the inn and rent some rooms for the night. We're all exhausted, so we go to the large communal room, since it's far easier (and cheaper) for all of use to be in the large room, rather than two or three separate rooms. The room is warm and cozy, with a dozen beds and a fireplace.

Colette takes the bed next to mine, and we talk while the others prepare for bed. We've grown close over the past few days: I've had nightmares every night, and each time I wake up Colette is faithfully there, ready to listen to me talk in the off chance that I feel like it. I wonder if I talk while I dream and if that wakes her up, but I can't help but note that no one else ever seems to wake up.

Once everyone's ready to sleep, Raine shushes us girls and I lie in bed, afraid to sleep, afraid to witness another nightmare.

--

**A/N: I can't guarantee when I'll update next, since school will be starting soon. However, I'll try to get the next chapter finished soon. Because next chapter is when they go to the ranch! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for the delay and for the innumerable amount of typos that I'm sure are in this. (I've edited it but I'm sure I've missed a bunch! Sorry guys. :( ) School pwns my life right now. Dx**

**Anyway, you know the deal by now. Namco owns ToS, I own Brynne. Lots of fighting in this chapter. :D**

--

The next morning, after everyone wakes up and eats a quick breakfast of eggs and hot cereal, we climb down Mt. Hima and return to the ranch. I'm not gonna lie: I'm really nervous about returning to the ranch. That Kvar fellow really creeps me out, and since he's a Desian Grand Cardinal, there's no doubt that he is very strong and could kill us all very easily if he wanted to. Quite frankly, I'm too young to die, and I'd rather not be killed by some fellow with slits for eyes

In any case, returning to the Asgard Ranch takes much longer that it took to get to Hima, since the monster population seems to have quadrupled overnight. I don't think I've ever fought so many giant bugs in my life! I mean, we even ran into a velocidragon _with_ a rider! What the hell is up with that?

I guess it's good that we're running into a lot of monsters, since it _is_ really good training. My stamina has improved dramatically since I've joined the Chosen's group, as has my endurance I'm not getting nearly as tired after using a whole bunch of spells, and I've been able to shoot with a lot more accuracy.

However, while I can't speak for the others, I'm covered in blood (most of which isn't mine) from all of the battles, I'm always sore, my clothes are stiff with sweat and dirt, and I just want to take a long hot bath and curl up in my bed with a bowl of Mama's chicken soup. I'm glad that I've met Colette and the others, but that doesn't change the fact that I just want to go home.

Plus, Kratos is a really scary man. How can someone be so unemotional for so long?

When we're not fighting monsters, Raine quizzes us on the geography and history of the area. Genis and I can answer the questions pretty easily, since he's a prodigy and I grew up here. Colette tries and occasionally says something correct, but for the most part she can only answer the questions if there's some religious tie to it. Lloyd, however, baffles everyone with his stupidity. For example:

"Lloyd!" Raine snaps, making everyone around her jump. "Name the first man to lead Luin and list three effective laws of his that are still used today."

"Uh..." He scratches his head, and for some reason I'm reminded of a dog. Cocking his head to the side, he says, "King John the first?"

I facepalm as Raine whacks him with her staff. "Lloyd, do you ever pay attention in my class?" Poor Raine.

"The first leader was Jeran DeBala," I tell Lloyd. "He passed a series of laws that many other cities recognized and used back when Sylvarant was composed of fiefdoms, rather than one country united by the Church. In fact, DeBala was the first leader to revoke his right as king and let the lower-class have a say in politics." I pause as I realize I'm rambling. "Anyway, among these laws were: the right of any landowner to voice any problems to the leader; the necessity for a child under the age of seventeen to go to school, which would be provided by the city free of cost; and the right for any townsperson over the age of seventeen to vote for a mayor in an election, which would occur every three years."

Mithos, I sound like I just read out loud from a text book.

Raine claps her hands, impressed. "Fantastic, Brynne! I can see that you never neglected your education!"

Not exactly. I just read a lot of books in my free time when I was younger. I didn't really have a lot of friends as a child, since no one wanted to be friends with the bastard child who may or may not be a half-elf – which I'm not, anyway. Not entirely.

Anyway, in total, it takes us about four days to reach the ranch. When we get to the outskirts of the ranch, we look around for the boulder that Pietro told us about. However, it's rather hard, considering there are about fifty boulders lying around. In addition to this, there're about twice as many Desian guards wandering around since the last time we were here, so I'm concerned that we're gonna get caught and killed.

"I think I've found it!" Lloyd calls out. I look up from a normal-looking rock and hope that Lloyd is right. I'm really sick of looking at boulders and stuff.

The rest of us circle around Lloyd, and I ask, "Are you sure this is the right one?"

The brunet nods. "Yeah, it looks like it's blocking something. But it wouldn't move when I tried to push it out of the way."

Raine, being the sensible woman that she is, says, "Well, let's try using the orb that we received from Pietro." She pulls the small blue orb out of one of her many pockets and places it on a small indentation on the boulder. Immediately, it starts moving towards Lloyd, and the red-clad boy has to jump out of the way as it continues to move. I look down on the ground and see an entrance below us. There's a ladder, which I assume leads to the inside of the ranch.

Pouting, Lloyd mutters, "But it didn't even move when I pushed it."

I laugh and pat his shoulder. "Don't worry Lloyd, even though you're a weakling, you're still okay in my book."

Something tells me my words aren't as reassuring as I'd hoped. He doesn't respond to my comment, so I simply shrug my shoulders. It's not my problem if he can't take a joke.

All of us climb down the ladder, which leads into the basement of the ranch. It's surprisingly well-lit, with lamps hanging from the walls every few feet. The walls are made of a marble-like material that has a slight rose hue to it, and the floor is a darker, browner shade of the marble-like material. The hallway that we're in is small, about six feet wide I'd say, and ends with a door on both ends. Kratos takes charge and heads to the door on our left. The rest of us follow, since we don't really have much choice.

Well, it turns out Kratos has a pretty good sense of direction, because the door leads to a stairway heading upstairs. We go up and find ourselves in the room outside of the control room. There aren't any Desians in said room, which makes me suspicious. I glance at the others to see if they feel the same way, but none of them appear so. Well, if the entire ranch is like this, I'll be perfectly okay with it.

As soon as we enter the control room, a group of Desians ambush us. Kratos and Lloyd immediately go in for the attack, while the rest of us hang back. Genis recites the chant for a lightning-based spell, and Colette does the same for one of her angelic spells. I sigh and nock an arrow, preparing for my Ground Arrow attack. However, while I'm doing this, a Desian sneaks up on me and punches my back – not very hard, but with enough force to distract me. I turn, and the bastard lays a punch right in my stomach.

I fall to the ground, unable to breathe. I try gasping for air, but my diaphragm decides to not work. This has got to be the most uncomfortable and painful feeling I've ever had. The Desian laughs, and I respond by kicking him right between the legs. A gasp escapes from him as he falls to the ground, clutching his area in pain.

I get up on a knee, finally able to get some oxygen in my system. I smirk at the Desian and gasp, "Doesn't feel so hot, does it?" I grab my dagger and hit him right in the temple with the hilt, knocking him out.

"Watch out!" a voice calls out, and I look up to see a mage's fire spell heading right at me. I just barely have time to throw up a Damage Guard, so it's a bit weak. The heat seeps in through the shield as flames lick the green barrier. The fire spell does die down, and I can't help but feel a little weary as I get up; the spell used up a lot of my mana.

"Anyone got an orange gel?" I call out as I get up. However, as I glance around, I see everyone else is busy fighting; even Raine is whacking around a Desian with her staff, which must hurt since it has spikes on it. I don't think I'll be getting an orange gel until after the battle, so until then I'll have to make due with my non-magical attacks.

I pull out my dagger and decide to help out Raine with bludgeoning the Desians. I resort to using the hilt, rather than the blade, since I don't really want to get blood everywhere. Raine and I manage to bruise up a few Desians, although both of us receive various cuts, bruises, and other wounds in the process.

Once all of the Desians are unconscious (or dead, in Kratos' case), Raine runs over to the Control Panel and brings up the map. While I steal an orange gel from Genis, she points out where we are and where Kvar is. After typing in a few more words, she says that the doors to Kvar's room are locked, and we have to deactivate the guard system to get through. She points the guard systems' on/off switches to us; there are two of them, and they're both far away from Kvar's room, all the way on the other side of the ranch. Why couldn't Kvar be an idiot and not lock his doors?

Better yet, why do we even need to attack Kvar? Why can't we just free the prisoners and continue on the regeneration journey?

When I voice my opinion to Colette, she says, "Because if we don't attack him, he'll just capture even more people, and our rescue mission will have been in vain. I'm not happy about killing him, but it's the only thing we can do."

I shrug. "Yeah, but…are we strong enough to take on a Desian Grand General? I mean, I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I'd be able to do it."

My question doesn't get answered, however, as the professor suddenly lets out a curse. "They've detected my access of the main computer!"

"What do we do?" Genis cries. "The Desians will be here any moment!"

"It appears that we need to split into two groups," Kratos states, "one to deactivate the system, and one to infiltrate Kvar's room."

"How are we picking teams?" Colette asks.

The others turn to our twin swordsman. "Lloyd, you choose," Raine says.

"W-what! Why me?" The look on the brunet's face is priceless. His eyes are wide and he looks surprised.

"I know you'll do a good job choosing the groups," Colette says with a smile. Colette could win anyone over with that smile.

Lloyd blushes a little and then says, "Okay, I'll do it." He looks around at us. "Who wants to infiltrate and who wants to deactivate?"

I sigh and raise my hand. "I'll be part of the deactivation team. I don't think I'd be of much help against Kvar."

Colette grins. "I'll be wherever you need me to be."

"Hey Lloyd, you're gonna take me along, right?" Genis demands.

"I trust your choice, Lloyd," Raine says simply.

Sheena shrugs. "I'd rather fight."

Kratos, who waits until everyone else has spoken, looks at Lloyd, and says, "I'd prefer to fight Kvar."

Lloyd scratches his head for a moment. "Alright, then, I guess here are the teams. Raine will lead the deactivation team, and Brynne and Colette will help her. Since we'll be fighting Kvar, four people will fight him: me, Kratos, Sheena, and Genis." He looks at all of us. "Is that alright with everyone?"

No one complains, so I guess that's a yes. Raine, Colette, and I head off towards the switches, while Lloyd and the others go off to Kvar's room. I don't like the idea of splitting up, but what other options do we have, right? Honestly, I'm just glad I'm not fighting Kvar. I don't know how well I'd be able to fight against him. I'd probably be more of a liability than anything.

Right outside the room are three Desians. Luckily, none of them are mages, and they seem like they're low-ranking Desians. Nevertheless, it's a bit of a pain running into them. I take out my bow and nock an arrow, firing it at one of the foes. It bounces off the man's armor, falling to the floor. I curse and turn to Colette.

"Can you hold them off while I charge a spell?" I ask her hurriedly.

"Sure thing," she says, giving me a thumbs up. She takes out her wings and flies towards them, chakrams in hand.

Raine calls to me as I start to charge a spell. "Do you know about unison attacks?" she asks quickly.

I quirk my head to the side. "Not really…"

She sighs. "I'll explain them to you later, but right now I want to see if I can perform one with you. I'm going to try to transfer some mana to one of your arrows, which you can fire at the enemy. Understand?"

I nod. "Yeah, I think so."

I nock an arrow and listen as Raine charges the spell. She glances at me, and I nod my head, ready. Her staff touches my arrow, and she cries out, "Photon!" A bright light surrounds the arrow as she calls it out. I aim for one of the Desians, put some of my own mana into the spell, and yell, "Photon Arrow!"

The arrow flies towards the soldier, and the attack hits him right in the head. An arrow sticking out of his head, he falls to the ground, blood oozing out it. My stomach churns a little bit, but I get over it quickly. He was going to kill us. I just got to him first.

I run over to help Colette, who's getting double-teamed right now. Pulling out my dagger, I leap in and block an attack that would've hit her arm. I guess one of them has a whip, because I hear a snap and feel a sharp pain on my back. I cringe from the pain and yell out. The whip-wielder chuckles, and I turn around and slash my weapon at him. It gets him right in the face, leaving a red line from cheek to cheek. He punches my face, and I stab his shoulder, ignoring the warm blood on my hand and the stars dancing in front of my eyes. He reaches for my neck, trying to strangle me, and I bite down hard on his arm; there's no way in hell he's gonna touch me. A coppery, salty taste fills my mouth, and it makes me relinquish my grip a little; the taste makes me want to gag.

Without any hesitation, he grabs my hair and throws me to the ground. My head bounces off the hard floor and flashes with pain. He kicks me, once in the stomach and once in the back, before placing his foot on my throat. I try to kick him off, but for the second time today I find myself unable to breathe. I try to pull his leg off, but my actions are in vain, for he doesn't move. Right as I find myself blacking out, a barbed staff comes flying in, hitting the man square in the stomach. I breathe in as Raine finishes off the Desian, massaging my neck. Damn that hurt.

"Are you alright?" Colette asks as she runs over, concerned.

I cough and say in a raspy voice, "Yeah, I think so." Turning to Raine, I smile a little bit. "Thanks for that, Raine."

She helps to pull me up off the ground. "You're welcome, Brynne. Let me look over your injuries quickly."

It turns out I'm getting a nice bruise on my cheek, and there'll probably be some bruising on my neck from my strangulation. She uses first aid and my pains seem to grow numb as cool mana rushes through my body. Getting healed is an interesting feeling; your body gets all tingly, and your pains just vanish. The more tingly the feeling, the better the healer. My body gets really tingly, so it's nice to know that Raine's an excellent healer.

Once I'm deemed okay to continue on, I collect my usable arrows and dagger and we make our way to the switches, being careful to avoid the Desians. I'm still weak from earlier, so I really hope we don't run into anyone else. Thank goodness for Colette. Seriously, it's like she can't even feel anything. She just fights with no hesitation, knocking Desians out with her chakrams and a smile. One can only strive to be like that.

Eventually, after shutting down about a dozen robotic enemies and knocking out countless Desians, we find ourselves standing in front of the first switch. It looks like a dark blue pad on the ground, and I can't even think of how to activate – deactivate? – the switch.

The elven woman steps on the pad for a moment, testing to see if it will hold her weight. It doesn't respond, so she kneels down and looks closely. After touching the blue floor, she calls for Colette and me.

"You see this?" she says, pointing to the floor below her. "This blue flooring is made of a different material than the rest of the floor. If you look closely, you can see that it is translucent; below it are wires. It looks as if it requires electricity to functions." At this point, she looks to me. "Brynne, you are capable of using lighting magic, correct?"

I nod my head warily. "Uh…yeah."

"Excellent." She grabs my arm and drags me to the pad. "Direct your magic at the floor pad. This will send electricity through the system, and I suspect if we do this with both switches, there will be an override of electricity, which will shut down the system and allow the others to get to Kvar."

"Um, what are the chances of this backfiring and me getting shocked instead?" I ask her.

With a shrug, she responds, "Only about twenty percent."

Fabulous.

"I'd better not die," I mutter as I charge the spell in my hands. It's a lot harder, in my opinion, to create a spell without an object to act as the catalyst; I've been so used to having my arrows act as the conductors for my spells that I can hardly create one with just my hands. I force my mana to them, the tingle of electricity traveling from my center through my arms, ending in my fingers. Small sparks appear, and cautiously I touch the blue pad.

The pad lights up, and I see electricity traveling through the now-very apparent wires beneath it. I remove my hands, and it remains lit. With a smirk, I turn to the other two. "No problem."

Raine claps her hands, and I see a sparkle in her eyes that makes me nervous. From what Lloyd and Genis have told me, Raine has the tendency to study things which fascinate her. I really hope she's fascinated about the technology and not me. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

"This technology is marvelous!" she says.

Colette gently grabs her teacher's shoulder. "Professor, we should get to the other switch. Who knows if the others are waiting for us to shut the system down."

Although she's still got a sparkle in her dark blue eyes, she nods and says with acceptance, "Yes, Colette, you're right. The others need us right now." With a smile, she adds, "Besides, I can examine the other one when we get there."

We're never gonna leave this place if Raine examines them.

--

The Asgard Ranch is roughly shaped like a giant 'V'; there are two basic wings: the right wing and the left wing. In the left wing are the living quarters for the Desians and Kvar; it's also where the exspheres are made. In the right wing are the prisoner's quarters and all the electrical rooms.

As we're searching through the right wing for the second switch (Raine knows the general area of where it is, but her access was discovered before she could find the proper route), I can't help but stare at all the rooms the Desians have for powering the ranch. I mean, I guess it takes astronomical amounts of mana to create the exspheres. It disgusts me that, even when Sylvarant already has a shortage of mana, the Desians take huge amounts just to take human lives.

It's moments like these that make me wish even more so that Colette will succeed in her quest to regenerate the world.

"Hey Raine," I say, glancing around at the empty hallways. "Will we be able to rescue the prisoners after turning on the switch?" I try to speak nonchalantly, but the woman senses my anxiety about my mother.

After thinking for a moment, she replies, "It is quite possible, although we'll need to be very efficient about it. I would prefer to help Lloyd and the others with Kvar, but I'd feel uneasy knowing there were still people imprisoned here."

Colette nods. "I want to help save the prisoners, Professor." Thank goodness both of them agree with me.

"Very well." Glancing down the hallway to check for Desians, Raine says, "I believe it would be better to split up once we rescue the prisoners. Someone will escort them back to Luin, or around that area, while the others go to help the other group."

I can see where this is going. I have a strong suspicion I'll be the escort. Nevertheless, I nod in agreement; perhaps during the trip to Luin, I can search for my mother. Besides, I'd rather not be around Kvar during a fight. I'd probably get killed, and from what I hear, dying isn't very fun.

We continue to traverse through the winding hallways, a smile tugging at my lips. I might see Mama again – and soon, at that! A voice in the back of my head tells me not to get my hopes up, but that voice gets overpowered by my dominant thoughts: _I'll see my mother again, I'll tell her that I love her one more time!_

We turn once more and see the second switch at the end of the hallway – and, unfortunately, about half a dozen Desians guarding it.

"Shit," I mutter, grabbing my bow and nocking an arrow.

Colette grabs her chakrams and Raine readies her staff. "Brynne, you take the two mages. Colette, take the whip-wielders. I'll attack anyone who tries to distract you. Once we get rid of them, we'll focus our energies on the remaining ones." Raine sounds incredibly calm as she dishes out the commands. Maybe it's an adult thing.

Dammit. Why'd I get stuck with _both_ mages? Ack.

I slide my bow back over my shoulder and grab my dagger. With mages, it's better just to attack them head-on. I run towards the smaller of the two, swiping my weapon as soon as I'm in range. A staff flies out towards me and I cry out as it hits me right in the ribs. I fall, clutching my side, and kick the mage right in the shin. I hear a hiss of anger as his staff flies towards me. Brushing aside the intense pain from my possibly-broken ribs, I roll on the ground, just narrowly avoiding a very nasty attack. I hook my foot around the mage's ankle and trip him, smirking as he lands on his face. My foot meets his temple, and he stops moving.

Is that another addition to the list of people I've killed?

Before I can check to answer my own question, the smell of smoke fills my nostrils. I turn my head to see flames on my sky-colored coat. With a yelp I tear it off and stomp my foot on it, instantly regretting the action as my ribs protest angrily. Thankfully, the flames are small and I get them out quickly, but there's a nice scorch mark on my jacket and now my side is killing me. I reach into my bag and quickly pull out an apple gel, thankful for its healing qualities. While it won't completely heal my ribs, it'll at least let me continue fighting until Raine can properly heal me.

I turn to the second mage, who just finished casting a lightning spell on Raine. I nock an arrow and quickly shoot it at his back while he's caught off guard. It embeds itself in his shoulder, and he yells in pain as he awkwardly tries to pull it out. I should've gone for this guy first: he's an idiot.

A grimace surely plastered on my face, I nock another arrow and charge it for the fire spell. After a moment, I release the fiery arrow and watch as the mage's trailing cloak catches fire. Panicking, the Desian tries to rip off his cloak, but it's caught between his armor. I almost feel bad for him, but then I remember the deeds he and his people have done, and that pity melts away into disgust. I hear Raine yell the incantation for a spell and see the runes for her photon spell surrounding the mage. He lets out a low-pitched yell before flopping to the ground.

My heart pounds rapidly as I glance around. Colette's already taken out three Desians (perhaps it's her angelic abilities?) and even Raine took out a whip-wielder. With my two gone, there's only one guy left.

There's something different about this last guy. His back is straight, his stance strong, his gaze unfailing. He's not going to give up; he'll put up a fight despite being alone.

My grip on my dagger tightens as I glare him down. His eyes, despite being shielded by his visor, meet my own, and a surge of hatred rushes through me.

"So, you think you're justified in your killing just because the Chosen is with you?" he asks bitterly. I note that his voice cracks slightly; he can't be much older than me.

"You think you're justified in killing because you're a half-elf," I say right back at him, not questioning him as he did us. "There's no need to kill or enslave innocent humans just because of a vendetta which your people hold against them!"

He laughs. "_My people_? Mithos, it is not us who hold the vendetta; it is you humans who hold it!"

I shake my head. "Half-elves started the fighting long ago. That's what we were taught." And it certainly makes sense. Half-elves aren't to be trusted.

"You think _we_ started the fighting? It was humans who persecuted us so long ago. We are justified in our actions, not you!"

I bite back a reply, too angry to trust my words. Colette comes to my side, concerned.

"Look," she says calmly, "I don't know who started what. But we don't kill because we want to, honestly. I hate knowing my hands are stained with people's blood."

The Desian laughs. "Did your precious priests teach you those noble words, Chosen?" He snaps his whips. "We've been given orders not to kill you, Chosen, but our leader said nothing about your companions." A cocky smirk appears on his face for a moment.

"Big words for a little man who's outnumbered," Raine says testily. The smirk vanishes from his face.

I nod to Colette, who readies her chakrams. My eyes are narrowed, my lips a straight line. This Desian has spoken too much for his own good. I sheathe my dagger and unsling my bow, nocking an arrow a moment later, wincing as my ribs protest angrily.

"Bye bye," I mutter as I pull back on the string. He sees this action and cringes, throwing his arm over his head. Instead of letting go I hold my position while Colette throws her weapon, slashing his stomach. He clutches his wound and, while he's distracted, Raine runs over and hits him square over the head, knocking him out. He flops to the ground, a trickle of blood escaping from his side wound onto the sparkling floor.

I fall to the ground, clutching my side. My dress, once a pretty blue color, now has dark stains scattered about it, the largest being under my hands. Warm blood seeps out from my wound, and I grown queasy at the thought of losing too much blood.

"Shit," I say, holding out the word far longer than necessary.

Raine, seeing my current state, rushes over to me. Her staff hovers above my body as the words for her incantation flow from her mouth. The cool, tingly feeling of first aid engulfs my abdomen, numbing my right side.

As the elf heals me, I say with a chuckle in my voice, "This is why I don't use upfront attacks often."

Raine doesn't reply, focusing on my healing. Already, I feel strengthened, although I'm sure my side will still hurt for a while. "I can't fully heal you at the moment," the silver-haired woman says as she finishes up, "since I've used a lot of magic over a short period of time. However, this should leave you with only a little discomfort, at least until I can fully heal you."

She helps to pull me up and I smile. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

The woman nods curtly and points towards the blue switch on the ground. Well, I guess she just healed me so I could send electricity through the switch. At least I have some use, I suppose.

I approach the blue pad and focus my mana through my fingers, envisioning the electricity flowing through me. My body, tired from fighting, protests when I take away some of its mana, but I manage to produce enough energy to activate the switch. The pad lights up, a bright blue, and the electricity flows through the wires. The lights around us flicker, and I can't help but leap off the switch.

"What did I do?" I ask, my voice cracking as I panic.

"You did what I told you to do," Raine replies, "and it was the correct thing to do. Much like I predicted, the surge of electricity flowing through both switches caused the ranch's electrical system to short-circuit, thereby shutting down all the electrical locks and allowing Lloyd's group to advance towards Kvar."

I cock my head to the side, scratching it slightly. "Uh…what?"

A sigh escapes from her. "The locks don't work anymore."

"Awesome."

Colette gives me a thumbs up as I say this, and I grin right back. "Good job, Brynne."

As I grab my currently-scorched coat from the ground, I say, "So, can we rescue the prisoners now?"

The others nod. "Yes, let's get to that quickly," the orange-clad woman says. "The sooner we rescue them, the sooner Colette and I can provide help for the fight against Kvar."

Yeah, and the sooner I can see if my mother survived the attack against Luin.

--

"Take that, you bastard!"

My eyes widen as a little boy no older than seven kicks one of the fallen guards' bodies. Raine, Colette, and I managed to get to the prisoner quarters and take out the two guards with relative ease, and there's a steady stream of prisoners flowing from the cells; however, this child is the first one to show any signs of hatred towards his captors. Perhaps the others are afraid to convey their emotions until they're sure of their safety. Adults tend to think like that a lot.

"Praise the Chosen!" one of the prisoners cry out when he sees Colette.

"Many thanks, oh Great One!"

"You really are the Chosen!"

They all gather around her, trying to thank her and worship her and all that nonsense. It's only after Raine pulls out her staff and threatens to knock some sense into the people do they stop. A few people from Luin recognize me and offer their thanks. I'm sorely tempted to ask if any of them have seen my mother, but I'll have time to do that later; right now, the main priority is getting everyone out of the ranch.

Once we're sure all of the prisoners are freed, the three of us meet up one last time before we separate.

"So we'll meet up at Luin," Raine reminds me.

I nod. "Got it. And if you guys don't return in a few days…" I gulp, wishing that I won't have to follow this advice.

"Go to Hima," Raine says. "The townspeople there will help you, I'm sure."

"Don't worry!" Colette says with a smile. "We'll see you soon! I promise."

"Yeah." As they turn to leave, I can't help but hear some advice someone told me once: _Never make promises you cannot keep._ I hope Colette keeps her promise.

--

After herding the prisoners outside of the ranch via secret entrance (which was _much_ harder than I'd anticipated), I lead the way to our destination. There're well over two-hundred prisoners, but compared to the seven-hundred that used to live in Luin, it's a relatively small number. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel like the Desians will attack us at any moment – after all, two-hundred people traversing the northern plains is hardly inconspicuous.

Some of the prisoners keep trying to ask me questions: who am I; why am I with the Chosen; how long until we stop; do we have food; lots of questions that I don't want to answer. I tell them all that I'll explain everything once we reach the outskirts of Luin, but rather than comforting them they only ask more questions.

It's dark outside, the moon nearly gone, so we have to depend solely on the stars. It's only reluctantly that I decide to continue towards Luin; I hate to admit it, but this darkness does provide coverage for us, and I'd feel uneasy resting anywhere closer to the ranch. I know that the others are fighting Kvar, but that doesn't mean some other Desians won't follow us.

I feel someone tugging at my sleeve, and I look down to see the little boy who kicked the guard's body before. He looks up at me with his big brown eyes and asks, "You're not a bad guy, are you?"

I chuckle nervously; I'm not very good with younger kids. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't want to go back to where I was before," he replies right away, not daunted by my abnormal height. "You were with the Chosen, so you must be good, right?"

I smile a little bit. "Yeah, I'm helping you guys. I'll try to make sure you don't go back to the ranch, okay?"

He smiles, showing a gap where one of his front teeth should be. He grabs my hand, his small, dirty fingers wrapping around my palm.

"Shouldn't you go to your mother?" I ask, trying to mask my unease.

"I haven't seen her since I was taken to the ranch," the little boy says, a trace of sadness in his words.

I curl my own fingers around this child's hand, with whom I can finally relate. His mother might have been taken to another ranch at best, or at worse…well, neither option is exactly reassuring, but I'd rather for his sake that his mother is at a different ranch.

"You can stay with me for now," I say. "I can't guarantee I'll be the best companion, but I'll try to find someone who can take care of you."

He gives me a confused look. I sigh; I suppose I could have worded that better.

"Stick with me," I say simply.

With the two of us leading the group, we continue on towards Luin. The monsters aren't attacking, probably daunted by our large numbers, so the trip is oddly quiet. I'm not used to walking around the plains without running into a wolf or giant bug; some might find it reassuring, but I just find it discomforting.

At one point, the little boy, whose name I still don't know, asks if I can carry him since he's tired. I reluctantly let him climb on my back, afraid I won't be able to hold him otherwise. However, he is much lighter than expected, most likely due to the Desians giving the prisoners the bare minimum food-wise. In any case, he wraps his small arms around my neck, his warm breath on my cheek as he breathes in and out, slightly snoring.

Walking has proved to be an awkward task since, in addition to having a small child on my back, my bow, quiver, and bag have been slung around my body so they're now over my chest (I can't very well have the boy sleeping on my bow). I grit my teeth and deal with it; I'm not gonna drop the boy, and I'm definitely not gonna have someone hold onto my prized possession. Besides, we're making great time, so we'll be arriving at Luin soon.

Eventually, the stars slowly disappear as the sky turns pink. We trudge along towards Luin, whose ruins are visible in the distance. By my estimation, we should reach the town by mid-morning, so that only gives me a few hours to think of what to say to the prisoners. How do I explain to them that I don't have any food or gald for them? How do I explain that I can't return them to their homes? How can I be a leader when even I don't know what to do?

--

We arrive at Luin much earlier than I'd anticipated. Most of the people are stunned by Luin's current state, and my stomach churns as I look at my town, which once thrived with life. Thankfully, death's stench no longer burns into our noses, so at least we have that going for us.

" 'ey, you," one of the prisoners says to me. I turn and see a man with a scraggly gray beard glaring at me. "What ah we supposed ta do nah?"

"Uh…"

"Yeah," a woman says, "Do you have any food for us?"

"Where are we supposed to go?"

"Where's the Chosen?"

Everyone's yelling at me, and I can feel my face growing hot. I gently pull the little boy off my back and put him on the ground, trying not to wake him. Then I turn to the crowd and yell:

"_Shut up!_"

Silence fills the air, and it seems like everyone's gaze lands on me. I clear my throat, rub my hands together, and say, "Look, I don't have any food right now. If people find something they can use as a weapon in the ruins, they can accompany me on hunting expeditions." I pause , collecting my thoughts briefly. "We will stay here until the Chosen and her group arrive. From there, we will take you to the nearest town, and then you will be on your own.

"I will help you to an extent, but I'm not running a charity. If you want clean clothes, get them yourself. Hungry? Find the means to hunt and help get food. Want shelter? Build a tent. I am just one person, and I can't help all of you. So stop trying to act like you're defenseless. You have your freedom back. Use it."

And with that, I pick up the little boy, sling him on my back, and walk away.

--

**A/N: I don't know when I'll get the next chapter up, but I'll try to make it soon. Anyway, Tower of Mana in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: AN UPDATE? WHAT IS THIS?!**

**So it's been a while…sorry about that. I've got excuses, but I'll bore you with them in the author's note at the end of the chapter.**

**Alright, so basically Brynne is left with the escaped prisoners while the others finish things off at the ranch (in case you were wondering, since it's been a while and you need a little refresher). Yeah.**

**One last note: I own nothing except Brynne. Enjoy.**

----

The wet grass tickles my skin as I crouch on it. My muscles tighten, my hand clenched around my weapon. Scanning the area around me, my body slowly moves forward. With a flick of the wrist, I hear the slight rustle of leaves and grass. Good. Very good.

I smile as I inch my way forward, watching the prey before me. A bit on the scrawny side, unfortunately, but it'll definitely feed plenty of hungry people tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well, if we ration our food accordingly. Risking discovery, I move the tiniest bit forward, getting a better angle in the process. Its ears flicker for a moment, and I see its nostrils flare as it catches wind of someone's scent.

Shit.

I pull back on my bowstring and fire, watching as the arrow embeds itself in the deer's side. Three hunters leap out from the bushes, wielding the knives the scavenged from Luin. Untrained as they are in hunting, they automatically start to chop at it, but quickly realize there is a faster and more humane way to kill the deer. Two of them hold the body, which barely struggles anymore, while the third stabs it in the approximate area of where its heart it. The struggle stops instantly. I approach the hunters: Ronald, Heather, and Charlie. They wipe off their weapons and grin.

"We did it!" Charlie, a middle-aged tailor, says. "Just imagine what my wife would have said if she saw me do that…" His bright eyes sparkle with nostalgia for a moment.

"Not bad," I agree, although I can hardly criticize them; after all, I hardly know how to hunt myself, other than the basics. "And the others said that the traps caught a few rabbits, so with that, we should be able to last for a few days, if we ration correctly." Mithos, I hate rationing. Remind me to never ration ever again unless I have to.

"S'ppose we should carry this back?" Heather asks, wiping off some blood that squirted on her face. It surprised me when she first offered to join the hunters; she reminds me of Colette appearance-wise, except older and taller, and her blonde hair is shorter. However, she's proven herself to have a lot of natural talent, which is pretty awesome.

I nod and grab a part of the deer's body. The others surround it and pick it up, resting it on their shoulders. It's slightly awkward carrying the deer since everyone else is shorter than me. Being tall sucks.

We return to camp shortly, or at least to what's left of camp. A lot of people left for Asgard the other day, and the rest of us are headed towards Hima. The people who have stayed are the Luinians – there's no home for them, so where are they supposed to go? It's been four days since we've left the ranch, and I haven't heard anything from Colette or the others. I'm worried because their lack of contact leads me to believe one of two conclusions: they were killed fighting Kvar; or they left without me.

I hope it's neither option, personally.

I glance at the people and sigh. My mother isn't among the prisoners, as I found out a few days ago. I'd talked to a bunch of the prisoners, asking if they'd seen someone who looked like me (or if I recognized them from Luin, if they'd seen my mother), and no one had a clear response. There were the occasional vague responses like, "Oh, well that seems familiar," or, "I might have seen her, or I might have not." Frustration was my only emotion at that point.

Finally, I got some real feedback from Ursula, my neighbor. She was a newlywed, just a few years older than me, and I could tell from the sadness in her eyes that she was a newlywed no more. I approached her and asked the question I asked everyone else: "Was my mother at the ranch?"

Her light eyes gazed at me for a moment, as if registering who I was. "Brynne?" she had asked, "is that really you?"

I had nodded back at her and said, "Yep. Sure is."

Her lips curved upwards in a semblance of a smile. "You were with the Chosen, weren't you? You helped to save us – thank you for that."

I shrugged a little bit, uncomfortable about getting thanked so often: why should I be thanked for doing the right thing? "No problem. Anyway, did you see my mother at all?"

She scratched her head for a moment. "I think she was there for a short period of time. But I think she was sent to the Iselia ranch with a bunch of other prisoners."

My head perked up. "W-what?"

"Yeah, she was there for all of one day before she got sent away."

I remember thanking her and walking away thinking it was a bittersweet moment: I was happy about my mother being alive, but I was upset about her being in a ranch.

Everyone around me waves and smiles, recognizing me as the Chosen's companion. They treat me like a saint or something, instead of the teenaged girl that I am. I don't want any glory or attention; they should save it for someone who deserves it.

"Brynnie!" Someone tugs at my jacket, and I glance down to see Thomas, the little boy who everyone has called my shadow, smiling up at me with his giant brown eyes. "You got food there?" He follows us as we carry the deer to the food area.

"Mmm-hmm," I say with a short nod. "This food should last us to Hima." I know full well it won't, but Thomas doesn't need to know this.

He jumps around as he hears the word 'Hima.' "I'm gonna see the mountains!" he cries out. "Do you think we'll see dragons there?"

I laugh. "Who knows? Perhaps we will, Thomas." I want to call him Tommy or something more affectionate, but the last time I did that he got a sad look in his eyes and said that his mother was the only one who had used pet names with him. Not wanting to bring up those memories, I just stick with his real name. However, I have no problem with him calling me variants of my name. It's rather endearing.

"When can I go hunting?" he asks me as Charlie, Heather, and Ronald take the deer away from me, Charlie saying they can take it from there.

I tousle his hair affectionately. "When you're as big as me," I say with a grin.

A pout appears on his round face. "But you're a giant. I'll never be that big."

Laughter flies from my mouth. "We'll see, Thomas. We'll see."

We start to walk towards my tent, but he tugs my jacked once more. I look down and see a pleading look on his face. Holding back my sigh, I kneel down and let him climb on my back. His legs squeeze my ribs, and I wince slightly; my right side is still tender from the fight the other day, and carrying a seven-year-old boy around certainly hasn't helped.

Tugging my hair, he asks, "When will we be leaving this place? I wanna sleep in a bed!"

"Soon," I promise, "hopefully tomorrow." A thump on my back shows he approves of the time.

"How long is soon?"

Good question there, Thomas. "A week at most, I think," I say, gripping his arms, "and don't pull my hair. It hurts."

He giggles. Such innocence is rare in our times. I hope he retains it for as long as possible. I don't want him to end up like me, cynical and jaded.

----

The sun's pink rays tint the earth as we finish packing up. Dew glistens on the grass, and a light mist hovers above the ground. Our breath appears as we rush around, getting our last-minute preparations in order. Most of the children are asleep in the carts, too tired to be of any help, and shadows hang under many of the adult's eyes. Few people are early risers like myself, so it probably wasn't one of my brightest ideas to leave at the crack of dawn.

Well, they can suck it up. After a week, they won't have to put up with my crazy antics.

Although perhaps I should've let them sleep a little more. But I can sense the anxiety in the air; the others feel uneasy being so close to their town's ruins, knowing they have nowhere to turn. So perhaps it's better to motivate them to move on with life, give them something to look forward to.

After making sure everyone's good to go, we set off. Our voyage remains fairly uneventful for most of the morning – monsters avoid our large group, and we follow the road to the mountains. Slowly, the sun rises higher and higher into the sky, everything changing from pink to green, blue, yellow. A cool wind blows away the mist, only the slightly-damp road reminding us it was there.

A chorus of everyone's chatter, hushed and muted, fills the air. Everyone talks among themselves, hiding their fears by acting overly-optimistic. They don't want to be heard, and yet they continually speak to one another. It's almost as if they want people to know they're afraid, but they don't want to tell each other directly. Humans are interesting creatures.

The children start to wake up, and soon games of chase distract everyone, even us "old" people. Children run among the crowd, their joyous laughter overpowering all other sounds. They'll run into the adults occasionally, but instead of acting stern they simply smile and let them go about their business. Why take them away from their world of games? People are only children once.

As for myself, I lead the way, silent and solemn. I look at the world around me, searching for any sign of Colette and the others – perhaps they went north to the Tower of Mana, or they decided to do some training in the plains. I know I shouldn't tease myself like this, but I feel like if I give up on looking for them, then it'll be like I've given up on them and their quest. I dunno. I just want to find them soon.

We rest quickly for midday meal, eating simple food; we don't want to waste any more daylight than we have to. At this point, Thomas has had enough with the other children and follows me, talking up a storm. I smile and nod, listening to his words. He's a bit hyperactive, but he's a good kid, all things considered. He's almost like a little brother to me.

We rest for the evening after traveling a few miles. It's slow work, but we have to get there eventually. Fires are made, and the smell of roasting meat soon makes my mouth water. My stomach growls, but I wait for the others to get their food first; after all, they were in the human ranch and need it a bit more than I do. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean I'm patient as I wait, so to kill some time I wander on my own.

It's darker on the outskirts of our temporary settlement, so I take out my dagger, more as a precaution than anything else. I find a tree and rest against it, looking up at the sky. The stars seem to wink at me as I glance up, forever twinkling and shining. The moon, just barely more than a sliver, sends some feeble light to me. I close my eyes, resting without sleeping; I'm not stupid enough to fall asleep alone in the wild without any protections, like holy light or something.

A few moments later, the sound of something running forces me to open my eyes. I slowly get up, growing more alert with each moment. My dagger is sharp, and the moonlight glints off of it. My knees bend, my eyes narrow, and I feel my arms grow tense.

Something howls, and my guard drops. Noishe? What the hell is he doing here? "Hello?" I call out cautiously. "Who's there?"

Silence, followed by, "Brynne?"

"You're damn right. Who's there?"

"It's me, Lloyd. Where are you?"

I stick my dagger back in its sheathe. "Can you see the lights from the fires in the distance?" I ask.

"Uh…yeah, I think so." Poor Lloyd sounds confused.

"Just head towards them. I'll meet you there. Are the others with you?"

"No, it's just me," he says with a weary voice. Oh Lloyd, please, hide your enthusiasm. "I'll explain it when we meet up."

"Sounds good to me. Don't get lost." Brushing off my pants, I walk towards our settlement, curious and anxious. Is everyone okay? Why is Lloyd alone?

----

"Calm down, Lloyd. This food needs to last us until we reach Hima."

Although I've barely touched my food, Lloyd's already wolfed down two bowls of soup and currently chows on a chunk of venison. Noishe, too tired to eat anything, curls up next to the swordsman.

"Buf ish been sho lowng shinche I've eaten!"

"Swallowing helps before speaking, Lloyd."

Gulping down his food, he laughs a little. "Sorry."

I shrug. "So why're you here? And where are the others?"

"Uhm…well, it's kinda a long story."

"We've got time." I raise an eyebrow. "Spill."

"Alright then." He looks at me as he begins: "So, me, Kratos, Sheena, and Genis, we were just finishing off Kvar when Raine and Colette came to help us out. We thought Kvar was dead, so we turned to leave, but I guess he wasn't since he tried to stab me in the back."

"Mithos!" I can't stop myself. "What an asshole!"

"Uh, yeah." He scratches his head, unsure of how to respond. "Well, anyway, Colette kinda jumped in the way of the attack. When he realized he couldn't defeat us, Kvar tried to escape, but Kratos and I finished him off.

"Well, Colette got hurt by the attack, so we needed to take her to a town. That's why we couldn't meet you in Luin. Sorry about that," he adds with a half-smile.

I shrug. "Not your fault. So, is Colette okay now? And how about the others? They're fine, right?"

Lloyd nods. "Yeah, they're all fine. But…." He pauses, hiding something from me.

My eyes narrow. "What's wrong, Lloyd?"

He inches closer to me, and I do the same – whatever he's gonna say, it's not gonna be something the general public should know. We're so close I can feel his breath on my face, a rather uncomfortable feeling. Whatever he needs to say, he better say it soon.

"Colette's losing her humanity."

"What?!" I say, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"Shhhh! With each seal that we've broken, she loses a little bit of her human-ness. She can't sleep, taste, feel, or anything!"

Well, I'll be damned. I guess the scriptures were quite literal when they said the Chosen would become a full-fledged angel. Meaning nothing human about her would remain. Does that mean she'll be dead too? I brush that thought aside: why would the Church want her dead? "Shit, man."

I lean back, staring at my now-lukewarm soup, and say, "She…she's losing her humanity so she can become an angel." The boy nods. "So…did she know this when she first went out on her quest thing?"

"Well," he begins, but stops after a moment. "I…I don't know." His eyebrows furrow together.

An awkward silence surrounds us for a moment, and I take a spoonful of my soup. Lloyd takes a bite of his meat, and Noishe whines a little in his sleep. I glance around us and see some of the other travelers staring at us, intrigued. Some look confused, while others have a "knowing" look about them, as if they think there's something going on between us.

That would be a big NO.

Looking up from my bowl, I finally break the silence by saying, "So, you got sent to search for me?"

"Wha?" The venison hangs from his mouth. He starts to speak, but remembers what I said earlier and swallows everything before he says, "Yeah. Raine had to watch over Colette, Kratos has to guard Colette, Raine doesn't trust Sheena to go on her own, and Raine thinks Genis is too young to travel by himself. So here I am."

"Makes sense." We go back to our silence, but before it lasts too long, I clear my throat. It's one thing to be sitting in silence, but it's another thing if it's awkward. And I define it as awkward when I'm sitting across from someone I hardly know who definitely feels the same way about me as I feel about him.

"So, all these people are from the ranch?" he asks rather stupidly.

"Yeah. I need to take these people to Hima. They need me to lead the way, and I can't abandon them." With a shrug, I add, "So you can either go back to the others and tell them that, or you can stay with me and help me out. It's up to you."

He looks uneasy, and I can sense that he doesn't want to be hanging out here longer than he has to – perhaps he's worried about Colette. Hell, I'm worried about Colette, and a part of me wishes I can just get up and leave everyone behind so I can make sure she's okay. But I can't very well drop my responsibilities: these people, my people, need me more than Colette needs me.

"Look, it's not a big deal if you want to leave," I say. "You don't know these people, and you shouldn't feel obligated to help them. But I need to take them to Hima, and that's that. So you decide, Lloyd. I won't make that choice for you."

"Can I think about it overnight?" he asks after a moment.

"Sure," I say with a shrug. Why force him to choose now when we aren't leaving until tomorrow morning anyway? "Sleep on it." A yawn forces its way to my mouth. Talking about sleep…

"I think I'm gonna head to bed now," I tell Lloyd. "Night."

"Goodnight," he says absentmindedly, thinking.

Finding a spot next to one of the fires, I unroll my bedroll, try to ignore how bumpy the ground is underneath me, and fall into a restless sleep.

----

I wake up the very early next morning to find something prodding me in the foot. I kick back, but I miss whatever it is that woke me up. The prodding moves to my shoulder, and I open up an eye, noting it's still dark out. A big brown eye meets my own as I open up my second eye.

"Brynnie?" Thomas asks, his voice quiet.

As much as I like the kid, I'm not a fan of getting woken up before I'm ready to awaken. It takes all of my willpower not to yell at him and go back to sleep. Sitting up, I scratch my head absentmindedly and say, "What's going on, Thomas?"

A flicker of nervousness passes over him. "Uh…who's that strange man over there?" He point, and I see a certain brunet sleeping on a green dog, mouth open, as if waiting for something to drop into it. It figures that even when he's asleep, Lloyd thinks about food.

I laugh a little. "He's a good guy, Thomas. He helped us out at the ranch, and he's friends with the Chosen." Sitting up on my knees, I rub my eyes and sigh. "Why're you up so early?"

"I had a bad dream," he says after a moment, his voice hardly audible. "Do…you mind if I stay with you for a little bit?"

"Er…" What am I supposed to do in a situation like this? _Can_ I let him stay with me? I'm not his mother; I'm not even related to him! Nevertheless, I can't say no when I look into the little boy's eyes and see the fear in them. "Alright. But just until everyone starts to wake up."

Slightly grinning, he plops down next to me and lays down, his head on my lap. I cringe a little, my awkwardness returning to me. I tentatively pat his head, and he snuggles closer.

Children. The bane of my existence.

I glance around, looking for something of interest. Everyone else is still asleep, and none of the animals dare to venture into our camp. Morning's first rays peer over the horizon, the faintest hints of rose appearing in the distance. It's pretty, but my mind wanders. I've seen plenty of sunrises already: big deal.

After an hour or so, I see some movement from some of my fellow travelers. At last! I gently nudge Thomas, who has fallen asleep on my lap. He squirms, and I ease my way out, trying to disturb him as little as possible. I somehow place my bag under his head, and he sleeps peacefully. Despite myself, I smile a little.

Almost everyone's awake within half an hour, and some of the women prepare a simple breakfast: rolls and dried meat. I really hope our provisions last for the duration of our trip. I glance and some of the younger children, still half-starved from the ranch, and at the adults, who relinquish some of their food to these kids. I just take a roll, knowing dried meat lasts longer than bread. Just a few more days; I keep telling myself this. The food just has to last a few more days.

I return over to where I slept to check on Thomas, and see he's still asleep. I gently wake him up and send him over to get some food before we leave. I grab my bag and start rolling up my bedroll, but stop as a whine catches my ear. I turn and see Lloyd sprawled over Noishe, who has just woken up. I chuckle a little, unsurprised that the swordsman is _still_ asleep. What a lazy fellow…

I approach Lloyd and his pet, also asleep, and nudge the red-clad boy with a foot. He lazily swipes at me with his hand, not even reaching me. I decide to try a different route, and instead nudge his dog. Noishe whines and opens a dark eye wearily. It take him a moment to realize that I'm near him, but as soon as it registers into his mind that I'm someone he hasn't known for his entire life, he wakes up and stands, forcing Lloyd's head to drop to the ground. Noishe runs away, leaving his owner in my hands.

Lloyd groans as he clutches his head, now fully awake. I laugh a little, and he glares at me. Guess that won't help our relationship. Shucks. I was really hoping to be best buddies with him.

"Sorry," I say, hiding my smile. I reach into my bag and pull out an apple gel for him. He eyes is reluctantly, as if I have another trick up my sleeve. "Relax, Lloyd. It's a perfectly-safe apple gel. It'll help with your headache, although you should have some food with it. "

He takes it from me, still rubbing his head. "Ow…Did you have to wake me up like that?"

I shrug. "It seemed like the best way at the moment. I don't really think these things through."

"Mmm." Lloyd stands up, his head tilted up so he can look me in the eye. "So I made a decision for what I'm gonna do." Oh yeah, Lloyd wasn't sure last night. "I think that I'll help you take these people to Hima, and then we can meet the group in Asgard."

I smile. "Thanks Lloyd. And I really am sorry about before."

"No problem. Now where's this food?"

----

All in all, it takes us five more days to get to Hima. It's basically uneventful, and the weather stays relatively mild, hence the good timing. As we pass through the valley just outside Mt. Hima, we see a few farms, outside of which are people working. Some of our group members leave us to find work at these farms, but for the most part everyone's ready to be in Hima. I can feel the restlessness in the air around us.

After climbing up the steep slope that leads to the city, we head to the inn. The townspeople watch us curiously, unsure of what to say about the ragged-looking visitors. I see them all, fairly safe considering the times; the Desians can't be damned to climb the mountain for the insignificant amount of people that live here, so these townspeople are safe from the ranches. Some of the children wave to us, and we wave back uneasily.

At the inn, we ask for the leader of the town, and the innkeeper says that's his job. I'm sure my face looks surprised, for he explains that since hardly anything occurs in the town, he maintains the inn as well. After hearing our story, he agrees to let us stay in the town and give us all food. He offers Lloyd and myself a room in the inn, which we accept with a bit of reluctance; I feel like the freed prisoners should get beds, but after the innkeeper reassures me there will be enough beds for everyone, I have no choice but to accept.

The innkeeper says he needs to prepare the rooms, so we have some time to kill. Lloyd goes to look at the only shop in town, wondering if they sell weapons, and I resort to wandering. There's a path that leads to a plateau (or so the signs say), and I consider taking a walk there; however, the path is predominantly uphill at an angle that makes my knees hurt just looking at it. Perhaps I'll explore another day. It's a shame; I'm sure the view of the world below it is breathtaking.

As I return to the inn, a commotion catches my ear. I hurry to the inn, where the noise is coming from, and see a bunch of people surrounding something. I see a flash of red and know that Lloyd is there as well. I try to meet up with him, but before I do I catch a glimpse of what everyone is surrounding: a dark green monster wearing a ripped white dress.

A tap on my shoulder nearly makes me jump. "Brynne, that's Clara!"

I turn to see Lloyd's dark brown eyes filled with concern. Perhaps he knows that Colette would have protected this monster, Clara, and since she isn't here to do so, he needs to fill her place. Mentally sighing, I say, "Well, let's go help her."

We force our way through the crowd, getting right in front of the monster. "Leave her alone!" Lloyd says, unsheathing his swords.

"Yeah," I say with slightly less valor in my voice that Lloyd. "She isn't hurting anyone!"

"It's a monstah!" someone cries out. "We need ta kill it! It coulda been sent by tha Desians to spy on us!"

I snort. "Oh come on. If the Desians wanted to spy on us, they'd make something far less ostentatious."

The crowd stirs at this comment, and they're all yelling. However, the monster – Clara – lets out a loud cry that silences everyone. It manages to run off, dropping something in the process. I glance to Lloyd, and I'm pretty sure he noticed it as well.

"Look everyone, just leave. The monster's gone now, alright?" I raise an eyebrow, and the crowd disperses, muttering about our behavior. Fuck 'em, I say.

Lloyd runs to see what Clara dropped, and I follow him. He kneels down, and I do the same. On the ground below us is a slightly-rusted gold key. It's about the size of my hand span, and as thick as my first two fingers when they're together.

"What's it for?" Lloyd asks. I shrug, unsure. "Should we take it?"

"Why not?" I reply. "It'll do no one any good leaving it on the ground."

"But what if it belongs to someone in the town?"

I laugh. "Lloyd, have you seen this place? Nothing personal against the townspeople, but I think that key has the same worth as half the houses in this town. I don't think anyone here owns something like this key."

"If you say so…." Although reluctant, Lloyd gives me the key and I stuff it in my bag. We decide to return to the inn at that point, well of energy run dry from this last episode.

The innkeeper shows us to our room – yes, that's right, it turns out we're sharing a room, to my disdain – and lets us rest for a bit. It's a modest room, with one window that lets in enough light, a small table, some chairs, and two beds. Lloyd commandeers the bed next to the window, and I take the remaining one. I plop down on it, the soft, feathery bed feeling rather heavenly. Sleep would be fantastic now…

"So, when are we leaving for Asgard?"

Dammit Lloyd!

"I think we both need a day to recover. So the day after tomorrow?" There's no response from Lloyd, so I guess he's not happy about this. He must be really worried about Colette. "I guess we could leave tomorrow," I say, trying to hide my tiredness.

"Okay," he says, and I can see the smile on his face.

"Good. Now dammit, let me sleep. I haven't been in a real bed in forever."

And with that I fall asleep, too tired even to dream.

----

I wake up late next morning. I hear everyone bustling about outside, and suddenly I feel incredibly lazy. It's only when I see Lloyd, sprawled out on his bed with a bit of drool hanging out of his mouth, that I suddenly don't feel nearly as bad. Getting up, I realize how incredibly stiff my clothes are, with all the dried blood and sweat on them. Ew. I hope they sell clothes in this town. I think I have enough gald to buy something.

I go downstairs and ask the innkeeper where they would sell clothes in the town. However, he says that he won't let me buy any clothes, since word got out that I'm one of the Chosen's companions, and sends me to his daughter, who could be my mother's age. She fusses over me, trying to give me nice dresses and other impractical clothing, and I eventually have to tell her I just need a pair of trousers and a clean shirt. She gives me these clothes, but refuses my money. I feel like I'm a charity case, but she says my money is no good.

After washing off and changing my clothes, I decided it's about time to wake up Lloyd. I grab my old clothes and stuff them in my bag (they _might_ be salvageable), leaving out only my cloak; it may be grimy, but it's cold in the mountains, and it provides some protection from the elements and monsters. I return to the room and find Lloyd in a similar state as before. I nudge him on the shoulder, and them prod him heavily with the hilt of my dagger until he groans and waves his arm at me in an attempt to hit me.

"Get up."

"Mrrrrrrrmph."

"Lloyd, c'mon, you're the one who wanted to leave for Asgard today."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiive more minuuuuuuuuutes!"

"Dammit, Lloyd, if you don't get up now I'll throw a chair at you."

"...you wouldn't."

"You wanna bet?"

He opens his eyes and says, "Have you been talking with Raine about ways to wake me up?"

I laugh. "Nope. Now get up. We still need to gather supplies."

He slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes and scratching his head. Yawning rather loudly, he stretches his entire body out, his arms reaching for the ceiling and all his muscles strained. I can't help but notice that his clothes are just as grimy as mine, and I ask him if he wants me to get him some new clothes to wear; however, he vehemently says that he won't wear anything other that his current outfit.

Why are men so unhygienic? Ew.

Once Lloyd wakes up, the two of us head outside, where we gather some supplies for our trip. Lloyd searches for Noishe, while I say goodbye to many of the people. Most of the say simple thank yous and goodbyes, but Thomas, bless his heart, tries to come with me. His darks eyes are filled with tears as I hug him, his sniffling filling my ears. I hug back, tears stinging my eyes.

"You can't come with us," I tell him as I pull him off of me. "You'll be safe here."

He pouts at me, trying to win me over. "Pleaaaaaaaasse?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't take you with me."

The innkeeper's daughter approaches us and puts a hand on Thomas' shoulder, and she tells me that she'll take care of him. I start to leave, but a tugging on my pants forces me to look into his big brown eyes.

"You'll come back, right?"

I force a smile on my face, and I pray that I'm not lying as I say: "Of course I will."

----

Lloyd manages to find Noishe and, after much coaxing on both our parts, get him to not run away from me. I voice my concern that the two of us are too heavy for Noishe, but the twin swordsman keeps reassuring me, saying that Noishe is stronger than he looks and acts. I'm sure that Noishe isn't thrilled about having me as one of his passengers, but desperate times call for desperate measures, in any case. Besides, Lloyd says that we'll make it to Asgard in half the time if we ride on Noishe. He better be right.

He hops on and tells me to get behind him.

"What do I hold on to?"

"Uh…me, I guess," Lloyd says after a moment.

Well, this is fantastic. I reluctantly climb on Noishe's back, grabbing Lloyd by the shoulders, rather than around his waist. There are white ribbons that flutter from his jacket, and I'm sorely tempted to give them a good tug, but I restrain myself, thinking that if I piss him off, he could very well abandon me here, and then how would I be able to get to my mother?

We run into a few monsters for the rest of the day, but we kill them off with relative ease. Lloyd goes in and fights the stronger foes, while I hang back and pick off the weaker monsters. We would work much better if I knew healing spells, but I'm not gifted in that kind of magic: I'm better with the elements, not people.

Outside of battle, the two of us don't talk much. Awkwardness exudes from us as we continually travel. While riding Noishe, I have to hold onto Lloyd's shoulders, and that alone makes me feel uncomfortable. I'll be happy when I'm around the rest of the group, because then Genis and Colette will distract Lloyd, and we won't be forced into situations like this.

On the second night, the two of us rest at camp, circled around the fire. Or at least, the closest two people can get to circling around a fire. I fry up some rice with chicken, stirring it occasionally. Lloyd pets Noishe, who gnaws on a bone happily.

Tired of the silence, I say, "So, Lloyd, what do you do when you're not accompanying the Chosen with her quest to regenerate the world?"

Lloyd seems caught off guard about me actually talking. "Well, I usually would wake up, go to school, get yelled at by Raine for falling asleep in class, go home, learn some Dwarven stuff – I told you that my dad's a dwarf, right? – and then sleep."

"Hmm." I cling onto one part of what he said and ask, "So, you're a half-dwarf then?" I then remember Colette saying he was raised by a dwarf, but nothing about his father being a dwarf. Odd.

He shakes his head. "No, he's not my real father. But he raised me as if I was his son." He looks at me and asks, "So what about you?"

I laugh a little. "Was I raised by a dwarf?"

"No. What did you used to do before…well, y'know." Before my town got destroyed.

"I dunno," I say with a shrug. "I would wake up, help my mom with the baking, do some errands, maybe go to school…." I pause, trying to think. "Sometimes, I would go off on my own and explore this whole area for days. Hence why I know where we're going." In a softer voice, I add, "The reason why I survived Luin's attack was because I was exploring." After a moment of silence, I force a laugh and say, "Sorry for that downer."

I see a forced smile on Lloyd's face as well. "No problem. Is the food almost ready?"

I check and see it's slightly overcooked, but still edible. I spoon some out for the two of us and take the rest off the fire. I take a bite and try to think of something else to say. Lloyd beats me to the punch by saying:

"Is this rice too dry to you?"

"That's my cooking that you're talking about, Lloyd. I don't know how I feel about that comment."

His eyes widen, and I'm guess he's never heard dry sarcasm before. My face turns into stone, and I keep my serious face a bit longer than necessary. Then, I laugh boisterously, and Lloyd, seeing that I'm kidding, joins me.

"I was afraid you were gonna hit me!"

"Well, I'd say I wouldn't do that, but I probably would've, actually."

The two of us talk over dinner about simple things: the weather, our favorite foods, that sort of thing. We aren't best friends, of course, but at least now we don't hate each other's guts. It's progress, at least.

----

By the end of the third day, we've passed by Luin's ruins, and I'd say we're about a day away from Asgard. The two of us run into various monsters, but the worst that's happened was Lloyd getting knocked out by a giant grasshopper, leaving me to finish it off on my own – what an asshole. And believe me when I say he's _much_ heavier than he looks – but he must be a lot stronger too, since I could hardly lift up one of his swords on my own, let alone both at once. Thankfully, I was able to use a life bottle on him and wake him up, but I'll be happy once we're reunited with the rest of the group. Well, everyone except for Kratos – that man still scares me.

Lloyd complains about something; I couldn't tell you the what because I've found it's just easier to ignore his complaints, rather than scold him for whining. I nod and pretend to agree, simply because otherwise he either complains even more or pouts. Might as well make him think he's important to everyone around him. What's the harm in that?

"Brynne!" he yells. I wince from the volume of his voice.

"What?" I say, a slight whine audible in my voice. I've been around Lloyd and Noishe for far too long.

"I think I see the others in the distance!"

"But I thought you said they'd wait in Asgard until we returned."

"I guess I was wrong." The red-clad boy shrugged. "Let's go over to them!"

"Wait a second Lloyd," I intercede, "we don't know for sure that it's them. For all we know, it could be a group of Desians chasing after us. We need to be cautious."

Lloyd smiles. "I don't think there are any midget Desians." He points out a figure, and sure enough, it's far smaller than the other figures. Perhaps it _is _Genis….

I want to say, "Still, Lloyd, we should still try to be safe," but before I'm able to do so, Lloyd forces Noishe into a run, and I have to clutch the brunet's shoulders for dear life to avoid flying off the dog. Dust flies from the ground as the dog runs faster than I ever thought possible, and Lloyd can hardly contain his excitement. As for myself? Well, I just hope it _is_ Colette and the others, because if it's not, we'll be in a whole mess of trouble.

As we near the group, I see a flash of orange, a flicker of purple, and shimmer of pink. The figures grow clearer, and I'm forced to admit that Lloyd was right: it is the group. Kratos is in the front, followed by Sheena and Colette, with Raine and Genis taking up the rear. Kratos turns his head towards us, and I'm sure there's a nonplussed expression on his face, mixed with annoyance of course. Colette's cheers can be heard, and she abandons the formation to fly towards us. Lloyd, not thinking (as usual) jumps off Noishe, forgetting that I'm attached to his shoulders. I yelp as we tumble to the ground, with him somehow landing firmly on my back and me getting a face full of dirt.

"Sorry," he says as he gets up. With a chuckle, one hand scratching the back of his head, he offers the other to me. I take it and he pulls me up. Brushing off my clothes, I watch Colette tackle Lloyd with a ginormous hug. Giving them some space, I approach the others, who seem to have mixed feelings about my return. Kratos isn't smiling, but then again I don't think he even _knows_ how to smile; Sheena seems happy enough, waving to me; Genis' smile seems a bit forced; Raine looks indifferent. What a warming welcoming committee.

"Hi guys," I say with a toothy grin, waving. "Miss me?"

----

**A/N: Alright, so there's a whole bunch of reasons why I didn't write this chapter sooner. First off, I had marching band, which, if any of you know, consumes about 70% of your time (the other 30% is spent eating, sleeping, and schooling). Then I had college application stuff to worry about, so that took up a bit of time. Then, around Thanksgiving for me (late November for you non-Americans), I got sick, and I've been on and off with that ever since.**

**Anyway, I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I've got my winter break coming up, so hopefully I'll be able to write something over the break. Tower of Mana, yes?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Uh, yeah. Hi. I know it's been a while, but it's an extra-long chapter if that makes up for anything. Maybe?**

**Anyway, disclaimer: Namco owns Tales of Symphonia, I own Brynne. Yada yada yada.**

**Also, be sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter when you finish reading, kay?**

---

"…and that's why we went to look for you," Raine finishes explaining as we advance towards the Tower of Mana.

So they left because well over a week had passed without a word from Lloyd or myself, and they decided to continue with the quest to regenerate the world. It makes sense, I suppose, but it seems like the idea was pushed by Raine and Kratos more than the other three; I don't think Colette would leave Lloyd behind unless she saw no other option, and I'm sure Genis feels the same way.

"Hey, I get it," I say. "Colette's task is a bit more vital than our lives."

"Well, I'm just glad we were able to meet up again!" Colette smiles. "Now we can all do this together!"

"Hurrah!" I cheer, waving my arm wildly. All the younger members of our group laugh at me, and I see Sheena stifling a chuckle, but Kratos glares at me and Raine just shakes her head, an amused look on her face. Well, if the whole helping-the-Chosen-save-the-world thing fails, at least I know I can be an entertainer, just as long as Kratos isn't in the audience.

"So what took you so long?" Sheena asks me.

"Well, I waited for you guys a Luin for a few days, and when you didn't show up, I…well, I did what you guys did. I went on to Hima." I shrugged. "We didn't have enough supplies to last us more than a week, and besides, we didn't particularly like being around Luin's remains. It brought back rather unpleasant memories, if you catch my drift."

"I'm sorry we kept you waiting for us," Colette says. "If I hadn't gotten hurt-"

"Don't even blame yourself!" I interrupt. "You were protecting Lloyd. It was the right thing to do." Not the smartest, but the right thing at least, even though her life _is_ more important than Lloyd's: she's the Chosen, and he isn't. "Besides, I was fine on my own. Lloyd ran into us and helped me get the prisoners to Hima, and then we ran into you guys, and now here we are."

"But still…"

"Colette, is everyone okay?"

"Yes."

"Are we all together now?"

"Yes."

"Then there's nothing to worry about." I grin. "So don't worry about it."

A large smile appears on her face. "Okay!"

Oh Colette. It's so easy to convince her that all is good. It must be nice to be so optimistic.

On that note, Lloyd and Genis steal Colette away, leaving me with the adults. Thanks guys. And yet, as I see them joking around with each other, I can't help but feel a little envious of their friendship. They seem so comfortable around each other, so assured. What's it like to have that much trust in people?

We managed to cover a lot of ground that night, and as we set up camp, Kratos says we should make it by sunset tomorrow. As Sheena and I set up a tent, I can't help but feel a little anxious about the tower. I can't quite explain it – maybe I ate something bad this morning, or I'm just imagining things.

Nevertheless, as we circle around the fire, I glance over at the Chosen once more, wondering if she'll lose another trace of her humanity. If Lloyd was being honest (which he was, I'm sure; let's face it, he _can't_ lie), then she probably will. The question is: what will she lose?

I glance at her, laughing at a joke Lloyd told her, and wonder what the future will hold for us.

---

Glancing up at the gray sky, I groan; rain's on the way. Of course, rain's to be expected at this time of the year, when it starts to get warmer. But it doesn't make our journey any easier. Hopefully, it won't affect our speed for getting to the tower. Hopefully.

We make it through most of the morning before the sky opens up, releasing a downpour of rain. Twisting my lips as I quickly get drenched, I forced back my exasperation, telling myself that we'll get to the tower by the end of the day. To make things worse, a bitter wind blows, seeping into our bones. Soon, all of us are shivering and our teeth are clatter – all of us except for Colette and Kratos, anyway.

"Aren't you c-cold?" I ask the mercenary.

"No."

I shiver, his voice colder than the air around me. I don't talk to him unless I have to after that.

Around midday, we run into a group of thieves who are too stupid to realize who we are. Two of the men wield daggers, one a bow and arrows, and one a staff – probably a mage. A half-elf thief, probably their leader, tries to intimidate us by waving his dagger around like he was boss.

"Now, y'all are gunna give us yer gald and valuables, got it?" he says, revealing his teeth – or lack thereof.

Drawing his sword, Kratos says, "I suggest you leave now, before you regret it."

"Ha!" One of the archers nocks an arrow. "Yeah right."

Kratos then proceeds to run, at full speed, towards the archer, ramming the side of his head with his sword's blade. The archer, who never stood a chance, falls to the ground, a thin line of blood tracing down his cheek from his head. The poor fellow lands on Kratos' foot; he kicks the man off like he was a piece of grass, rather than a full-grown half-elf.

"Last chance," he says. "Leave us."

Needless to say, the thieves run off, leaving their comrade behind. Hell, if I was in their position I'd be doing the same thing. Kratos is a scary man.

Sheathing his sword, the mercenary turns towards us. "Let us proceed," he says simply, leading the way once more.

Turning to Sheena, who's the closest person to me, I say, "Remind me to get on his good side."

She nods in agreement. "No kidding."

That's the most exciting thing that happens on the trip, unfortunately. I mean, we run into monsters, but Lloyd and Kratos usually take care of them before the rest of us even charge our spells. Not that there are a lot of monsters out today; they're all hiding from the rain. I wish I was doing the same thing right now.

I start conversing with some of the others, but it really doesn't go far, for after a while I find myself getting bored of the conversation. It's not their fault, of course; I'm just accustomed to being on my own. I don't like talking.

It starts growing darker as we near Luin's ruins. I force myself to look at it, and I remember why I'm with the group: I have to save my mother, and I have nowhere else to go. It pains me to see the charred wood, the broken bridges, the shattered glass. Seeing the fountain, broken and leaking, is too much at this point, and I'm forced to look away.

Sheena, walking besides me, places a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Brynne," she says, "we'll restore your town."

False promises are like alcohol, if you think about it. People use them to make themselves feel better. Sure they help to make you feel happier temporarily, but in the end they just make you feel worse. So generally, I try to avoid listening to false promises.

"Yeah," I lie, looking away.

She keeps her hand on my shoulder, though I'd much prefer if she removed it. "Do you need to talk about anything?" she asks, genuinely trying to help me.

I don't need help right now. I just need silence. "Nope," I say. "Just need to know when we'll be nearing the Tower of Mana."

Her hand leaves my shoulder, and she walks away from me. I exhale, closing my eyes for a moment. I think I may have figured out why I can't make any friends.

---

Contrary to what Kratos said, we don't make it to the Tower of Mana until well after the dusk. Lloyd and Genis want to rest for the evening, but the rest of us just want to get out of the rain as soon as possible. Frankly, I just want to get out of this weather and curl up by a fire with a hot cup of tea.

When we do arrive, it's with shock that I realize just how tall the tower is. I mean, I could always see the tower from Luin, but I'd never actually approached it; I never felt the need to do so. It was just kinda there, something that no one in Luin cared about.

Raine, however, shows great enthusiasm as we approach the towering building. Forgetting about the horrid weather and soaked clothing, she runs up the stairs, approaching the large doors. "Fantastic!" I hear her say. "I have to get inside!"

Genis groans, facepalming. "Not again…"

Glancing at the three kids, I raise my eyebrows. "Do I wanna know?"

Lloyd and Colette shake their heads. I grimace.

The rest of us follow the professor, who's studying the door with interest. We see her try to open it, but it refuses to budge. She turns to us and says, "It's locked. We can't get in."

"Is there an oracle stone that Colette can use?" Genis asks. "Maybe that's it."

Raine shakes her head. "No stone in sight, unfortunately. It looks as if we need a key of some kind…"

"Where are we supposed to get a key?" Lloyd asks.

I sigh. So close to getting inside…and we're stopped by a stupid door. "Can't we just knock it over or something? Have Genis stone blast it or something?"

Again, the silver-haired woman shakes her head. "It's too thick, I'm afraid. We'll have to go to Asgard and see if the Church holds the key."

It's too bad Hima doesn't have a Church there…that would be more convenient. Wait a second…Hima!

"Wait!" I say. I approach the door while digging through my bag. Where is it…aha! Pulling out the large key, I search for the keyhole. Once it's found, I jab the key into it, turning it left and right until we hear a _Click!_ as the door unlocks.

"Bingo."

Kratos asks, "Where did you get that key?" I can't help but note how suspicious his voice sounds.

"When Brynne and I were in Hima, we ran into Clara," Lloyd says. "She dropped this when we saved her, and we thought it best to grab it."

"Yeah, what he said."

Kratos still glares at me, but he says, "Very well."

We run inside, where it's just as cold, but much dryer, thankfully. Genis lights a fireball in his hands so we can see the inside. A large room full of books greets us: it's grander than any bookstore I've ever entered. Cobwebs trace the shelves and hang from the ceilings; they circle the edges of unlit torches and trace the corners of the room. A layer of dust settles on the floor, and we leave footprints on the ground as we walk. I steal one of the torches from the ceiling and light it with Genis' magic; the others follow suit, and soon most of the lamps are lit, creating an eerie vibe.

Scuffling my feet on the ground, I ask, "So will we be staying here for the night?"

Kratos nods. "It would appear that we are safe from the monsters here. I suggest we prepare to rest."

I wish I could take off my soaked clothing, but I don't think the others would appreciate that very much. I wring out my hair, hoping it won't get frizzy as a result of the moisture.

"If you have extra clothing, you should change into it," Raine says to us as we attempt, in vain I might add, to dry ourselves. "You'll catch a cold if you stay in wet clothes."

"And change where?" Sheena asks, glancing around at the open room.

Before anyone replies, Lloyd proceeds to rip off his jacket and pull off his trousers, revealing striped boxer shorts and a white undershirt. I quickly turn away, face flushed with embarrassment. I hear a choking sound, most likely from Sheena if I had to guess, and some chuckles from Genis.

"That's not quite what I meant," Raine says, and I can just imagine her shaking her head.

"Mithos, it's cold in here!" Lloyd says.

"Sure it is," Genis replies, implying something else. Eugh. _Too _much information there.

When she realizes that most of us don't have any clean dry clothes, Raine thinks up the next-best option: getting Genis to dry the clothes with his wind magic. With just a few gusts, Lloyd's clothing gets dried, though not necessarily cleaned, unfortunately. He pulls the dry clothes on gratefully, and suddenly I feel a little envious.

The other guys take off their clothes while us girls look away, and soon it's our turn. Even though the guys are all facing the wall, Sheena looks reluctant to remove her wet things.

"I'm fine with wet clothes," she says as I remove my clothes. Colette respectfully turns away; since she doesn't feel anything, she doesn't need to change her clothes. One of the perks of being an angel, I suppose. I huddle in my jacket, which Genis dried earlier, grateful it's big enough to cover me. Raine has done the same with her jacket; however, Sheena does not own any jacket like ours, which is odd since they're quite fashionable in Sylvarant.

"We're all females here," Raine says in a hushed voice, trying to reason with her. "You'll get sick if you keep those wet clothes on you."

"I-I'll manage," she stammers. "Really."

With a shrug of her shoulders, the professor says, "Suit yourself."

She gives the clothes to Genis, who proceeds to dry them off. Once that's done, we put them back on, and I'm quite happy for the existence of magic. I can't help but noticed the envious look in Sheena's eyes as we pull on our dry clothes. Hey, it's her own fault that she didn't want to get her clothes dried.

Colette, however, has more compassion for me, for she says, "Brynne, do you think you can lend Sheena your jacket so she can get her clothes dried?"

Am I allowed to say no to the Chosen? I don't think so, since she's got the whole "saving-the-world" thing going for her. Damn.

"I…guess so," I say, reluctantly removing my jacket and handing it to the woman.

She puts it on before removing her clothes in such a way that nothing gets revealed – I'll have to ask her how she does that. I try to stifle laughter as I see Sheena in my sky-blue coat. Whereas the jacket reaches my knees, it ends at her ankles, nearly brushing the ground. The sleeves are far too long for her, yet the jacket barely closes over her body due to her curvy frame. Well, it' better than nothing, anyway.

We shuffle our feet awkwardly as we wait for Genis to dry her things. I kick around some dust on the floor, whistling a tuneless song absentmindedly.

"So…" I start to say, but trail off.

"Yeah…" Sheena says, replying for the sake of replying.

We don't talk until Raine brings back Sheena's dried clothes. The woman changes back into her clothes and then gives me back my jacket, saying a quick thanks as she does so.

I shrug in response as I slide my jacket back on, which still retains the warmth from her body. Now that I have my coat back, I can finally go to sleep. Unrolling my bedroll, I curl into it, thankful it stayed dry from the weather. I see the others are doing the same thing, besides Colette and Kratos, anyway (does that man ever sleep? Mithos…). Tucking my bag under my head, I snuggle under my blanket and try to sleep, knowing I'll need it for tomorrow, when we tackle the Tower of Mana.

---

_Standing high above the world, looking at everything around me, I realize how insignificant my life is. I don't have friends; my mother is gone; nothing works out correctly. Sometimes life would just be easier if I stepped off the edge._

_I glance down, seeing the clouds beneath me. I gulp, watching as the tower's ivory bricks disappear into the dark gray blanket. Does it just end there? Or does it extend further on beneath those clouds, thousands of miles below me?_

_The wind swirls all around me, whipping my hair into my eyes and making my coat snap. Cold…it's so cold. I shudder, goose bumps tracing my skin. It seeps into my skin, settles in my bones; never in my life have I felt this cold, never._

_I glance around that this tower on which I'm standing. Fairly large, square, with four pillars – one at each corner. The pale stone is surprisingly smooth and sleek, and a large round symbol is in the middle of the floor. I wonder if Raine knows the meaning of that symbol…_

"_Hello!" I call out, searching for a reply from someone – anyone. I hear nothing, not even an echo, in response. Where is everyone? Is there a way to get down? Well, other than the obvious 'jump-off-the-edge-of-the-building' route, I see none; no doorway, no stairs, no nothing. As to where everyone is…_

"_I'm all alone."_

_---_

The next morning, thin beams of light fall onto the floor from the windows, providing some relief for us: at least it's not raining. Not, of course, that it will matter much to us, since we'll be stuck inside this tower for Mithos knows how long. But still, the thought remains that the weather is far more auspicious today than it was yesterday.

Even though we dried off our clothes last night, many of us are sniffling and I know that we're going to be miserable for at least a few days. I sneeze, greenish-yellow mucus flying out of my nose onto my coat sleeve. Ew. I wipe it on the ground, hoping Raine doesn't see me do that; she'd probably yell at me for getting snot on an ancient cobblestone or something.

Now with light in the room, we can fully appreciate the amount of books in the room. The shelves are taller than me, and they cover the entire left and right sides of the room – which, as I've mentioned, is quite large. Raine's practically drooling as she ogles them. She runs from shelf to shelf, a wild look in her eyes; I try to move as far away as possible from her so I don't get in her way, very afraid for my life suddenly.

Genis, who's cooking a breakfast of eggs and toast, says, "Raine, our main task is getting Colette to the seal!" He flips the food over his makeshift fire: some flames from a fireball attack hovering just above the ground. His magical talents make me feel so insufficient. The kid can cook while concentrating on holding a spell – and he's sick! How does he do it?

"But the knowledge contained in these books could help us on our quest to restore the world!" she argues, pulling down one of the books and flipping through the pages. She sounds a little nasal, like she's congested.

"Forget it, Genis," Lloyd says as he grabs an omelet from the pan, taking a bite. He sniffles a little, but other than that he appears healthy as ever. Jerk.

"Doesn't that burn your tongue?" I ask, amazed that he can consume so much with such speed.

He shakes his head, reaching for a second omelet. Genis smacks the brunet's hand away and then offers the pan to me.

"Take some before Lloyd eats it all."

I laugh and grab some toast, ripping a piece in half with my teeth before chewing it.

"Can I have your eggs?" Lloyd asks. I shrug, and he grabs what would have been my omelet.

The silver-haired boy frowns. "Don't you like omelets?"

"Nope. Eggs are disgusting." I stick out my tongue in disgust, grimacing at the same time.

The red-clad teenager widens his eyes at me. "You don't like eggs?"

"Can't say I do," I reply, "not unless they're mixed with some milk, flour, sugar, and fruit to make a baked treat of some sort. We don't all eat everything in front of us, you know."

Genis laughs as he cracks another egg on the pan. "Yeah Lloyd you'll eat everything but tom…" He trails off as he stars taking a few short breaths. "Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!" He manages to turn away from the food, but his sneeze echoes throughout the room.

"Martel bless you!" Colette calls to him.

"Thanks," Genis mutters. "Anyway, what was I saying?"

"Something about Lloyd not eating tom?" I say with a smile.

"Oh yeah! He'll eat everything but tomatoes. For whatever reason, he doesn't like them."

"They're not to be trusted, I tell you!" Lloyd says. "Are they a fruit? A vegetable? Plus, they're too red."

I look at his outfit. "I can think of something else that's too red."

Realizing what I'm referring to, Lloyd flushes dark pink. I laugh at his response.

I say, "Hey, suddenly I could really go for some tomatoes!" Glancing at Genis, I continue, "You got any in your bag?"

The young mage nods and tosses one to me. I admire it for a moment before taking a large bite. I see Lloyd grimace as I chew the fruit, feeling some of the juices dribble down my chin. I swallow and take another bite, just to gross him out. Behind him, Kratos wears a similar look of disgust as he sees me eating the tomato whole. Two for the price of one? Hell yes.

At this point, Lloyd tears his eyes from me. "How can you eat that _thing_?"

"Very easily," I say with a smirk as I finish off the food. "Boy was that tasty. I sure could go for another one…"

Eventually, Raine forces herself to leave the books, at which point she leads us to the center of the room. There're two doors on the other side of the room: a small stone one to the right, and a larger stone one in front of us. Because it was too dark last night, I didn't see the small pedestal and much larger platform, but as I look at it now I wonder what its purpose is. Raine approaches the pedestal and says, "Colette, this is the oracle stone. If you would please…"

"Of course," Colette replies with a smile. She walks over to the stone and places her hand on it. I feel like something important should happen as she does that task, like one of the doors opening, or angels falling from the heavens. However, the only that does happen are three circles on the large pedestal lighting up, glowing bright blue.

"It didn't open…" Lloyd says after a moment, looking at the door in front of us. He sounds disappointed.

"Not, but look at that!" Genis says, pointing to the glowing circles.

"Fantastic!" Raine has that glint in her eyes again as she examines the platform. "It appears that Colette awakened the apparatus when she placed her hand on the oracle stone!"

"So what do we doe with this apparatus?" Sheena asks.

Raine examines it briefly and then calls Genis and Lloyd over. She instructs them to each stand in a glowing circle. They do so, but I can see some hesitance in their step as they approach it, making me wonder if this isn't the first time Raine's used these two in her experimentation. The healer steps on the third magic circle, and the door to the right rumbles open, revealing a narrow passageway.

"Wow!" Lloyd steps off of the circle and approaches the door; however, as soon as his foot left the blue light, the door started closing. "Wha?"

"It appears that three people must remain on the circles in order for the door to open," Raine says, stepping off of the circle as well.

"So…we have to leave three people behind?" Colette asks.

Kratos shrugs. "It's dangerous, but we have little choice."

"So who's going and who's getting left behind?" I ask with a pathetic sniffle. Damn cold.

We all look around to see who will choose. "How about Lloyd chooses? He did a good job choosing at the ranch when we had to split up." Of course Colette would nominate Lloyd for the task.

"Very well," Raine says. "Choose three people, other than Colette of course, to stay behind."

"Hmmm…" He looks around at us, appearing to put great thought into it. "Brynne, Genis, and Sheena," he says after a moment.

Damn. Probably revenge for me tormenting him with the tomato. Oh well. It was totally worth it.

We walk to the 'apparatus,' as Raine calls it, and we each stand on one of the circles. The door slides open once more, the dark passageway revealed. Kratos leads the way into the hallway, the other three following close behind him. Raine, the last person in the group, turns to us and says, "Remember to stay on the circles. You never know when we'll need to return, so it would be rather unfortunate if we were trapped because someone decided to step off of the circle for a moment. We'll return when we awaken the next seal."

"Awesome." I give her two thumbs up, and she turns into the hallway, disappearing into the darkness.

"So what do we do now?" Sheena asks.

"We wait," is Genis' reply.

---

"I spy with my little eyes something silver."

"My hair." Genis doesn't sound amused anymore.

"Yeah yeah," I say, "your turn."

"I think after fifty rounds of this game, we're all sick of it," Sheena snaps.

Needless to say, this whole waiting thing hasn't been going very well. In an attempt to bring in some entertainment, I started the "I Spy" game, which my mother would play with me when I was younger. It worked for a few rounds, but the other two quickly got bored with it. And now, as a result, they're taking their crabbiness out on me. Joy.

"Look, can you guys think of anything else to do to pass the time?" I ask, looking up at the ceiling. After a few minutes, I got tired of standing and sat down, which progressed into me lying on my back; the others quickly followed my example. I feel a sneeze sneaking up and sit up, bringing my sleeve to my nose. I feel it tickling the back of my nose, but I guess all the work I put into preparing for it scared it off. Daaaaaamn.

"If I could just grab one of those books…" Genis starts to say, but he sneezes before he can finish his train of thought.

"No way," Sheena says. "You heard Raine. We can't move from here until they return." Even she's sniffling, wiping her nose with a handkerchief she has.

I roll my eyes. "Oh come on. What will happen if one of us moves off of one of these sensor pad things for a few seconds?"

I stand up and start to move when a beeping sound stops me. I turn around slowly and see a light flickering into view. Colors mesh with one another as the light image grows stronger. I blink as I see Raine standing before us.

Wait, what?

"Raine…how are you here?" I ask.

Genis quietly groans as Raine says, "This is ancient magitechnology. Using mana, it copies the image before it and converts it into a source of light, transferring it to a linked machine. It's quite fascinating…"

"Hey look, the door's opening!" Sheena points to the door in the north wall, which starts to slide open.

"Excellent!" Raine says with a clap of her hands. "You should be able to meet us here if you enter that door. Be warned that there are a variety of puzzles and spirit monsters, so stay on your guard as you join us. We'll wait for you before continuing onwards."

Colette and Lloyd suddenly appear behind her, their heads peering over her shoulders.

"I can't wait until you join us!" Colette says in her cheery voice.

"This is so cool! Hey guys!" Lloyd waves at us, grinning.

"Hi Lloyd…" Genis replies. "Alright Raine, we'll meet you up there as soon as we can."

We each step off the blue circles, the door which we kept open until then slowly grinding shut. We enter through the newly-opened door and find ourselves in a dim room. Windows with dark velvet curtains surround us from above, and there are three unopened stone doors to the north, east, and west. In the center of the room is a strange, spherical-shaped object on a small pedestal. I grimace, scratching my head as I wonder if we were tricked.

"What now?" I ask, walking towards the center of the room.

Genis approaches the weird sphere, examining it closely. Meanwhile, I walk around the room, knocking on the stone doors to see if they're real or not. I knock on the doors, one two three times, each time my knuckles meeting hard stone. Perhaps Genis can stone blast there suckers, and then we'll be in business…

"Hey Brynne, help me here," Genis says.

"Why? What can't you do that I can do?"

"Well, you can aim for one of those velvet curtains with a fire arrow, right?"

I turn to him, confused. He can perform magic way better than I can – but then again, he _is_ a full-blooded elf. "And you can't do it because…?"

The little mage sighs. "Look, your aim is way better than mine for long-distance targets. Just do this for me, alright?"

"Fine," I say with a shrug and a sigh. "Which curtain?"

He points, and I aim and – pardon the pun – fire. The flames consume the curtains, and within moments light shines into the room. The beams seem to filter straight towards the sphere, and a light fills the room for a moment, blinding us all. I throw an arm over my eyes a second too late, my eyes watering regardless.

"Woah, good thinking," I hear Sheena say, and I assume she's talking to Genis, since I couldn't solve my way out of a wooden box.

Removing my arm, I blink furiously as my sight returns to me, colorful spots obscuring my vision. I make a face that surely makes me look foolish as I try to see what Genis did that was so successful. As I blink away the blue and pink shapes, I see that the light points towards one of the three doors, and the chosen door disappeared somehow – more magitechnology?

"How'd you know what to do?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.

Genis says, "Well, when I studied the orb, I saw there was a mirror inside of it, pointing in a specific direction. I figured that, with so many windows around here, light was going to be an important part of this puzzle. From there, I calculated which windows would reflect light into the orb and, from there, direct it towards one of the stone doors." He shrugs.

I groan. "Genis, stop making me feel like a moron."

We go through the rest of the tower in a similar fashion, with our young elf solving all the problems while Sheena and I assist him with whatever it is he can't do. One room had a whole bunch of cubes with mirrors in them, and we had to move them around for Genis. I'll admit it: the kid's a freakin' genius. But it doesn't make me feel any better.

"Ow, those boxes were heavy," I mutter as I stretch my arms, trying to relieve the pain.

"Suck it up," Genis says. "I think we're almost there."

"Genis, you can be a real jerk sometimes," I say.

"I'm only a jerk to people who deserve it." Touché, Genis. Touché.

"Where are all the monsters?" Sheena asks, interrupting our deep conversation.

"Hmm?" I turn to her. "What?"

"I feel their presence, but they won't show themselves to us…"

"They probably sense your awesome ninja powers and are cowering in fear," I say with a laugh.

"I'm being serious," the woman says. "It makes me feel nervous."

"We should stay on our guard just in case," the young mage says, siding with Sheena.

I shrug my shoulders, trying not to feel insulted that they don't appreciate my sense of humor. There's nothing wrong with trying to lighten the mood; and in these times, we all need to find a reason to smile.

Oh hey look, a ghost.

Wait a second –

"Uuuuaaaaahg!" I manage to sputter, pointing at the spectral being. My eyes widen as I back away, my heart stopping. It looks so pale, so translucent. It to have been a person in its previous life by the way it's shaped and its body parts. I look at it, trying to discern any human qualities in it, and I meet its eyes, or at least what should be its eyes. Black pits look back at me, its stare empty

Sheena pulls out a piece of paper with writing on it and throws it at the ghost; Genis, meanwhile, starts chanting a spell. I honestly don't do anything: I can't do anything. Even when I try to move, I can't.

Oh shit.

Sheena leaps over the ghost after somehow attaching the paper to it, landing crouched like a cat. Genis, having finished charging the spell, creates a ring of fire on the ground beneath the ghost and cries out, "Eruption!" Genis' spell, combined with Sheena's attack, creates an explosion that blasts the ghost away. It never stood a chance against those two.

"Alright!" Genis says, waving around his kendama. "C'mon Brynne, let's go!" He waves to me, but I obviously can't follow. I make a garbled sound to catch their attention, and it works, thankfully.

"Brynne…"

The female ninja approaches me and waves her hand in front of my eyes. I follow her hand's movement to show I'm still alive and coherent. "Did you look into the specter's eyes?" she asks.

"Mmmmhmmm," I manage to reply.

"You've been petrified, I'm afraid," she says. "It happens occasionally."

Man, I suck.

"Just stay still," she says. Smacking herself, she continues, "Sorry, forgot. That's not that hard for you to do right now. Alright."

Pulling out a ribbon of paper with strange writing on it, she starts muttering something in a strange tongue. She throws the paper at me, and it attaches itself to my forehead. Her muttering grows louder, but not any more understandable. With a final exclamation, she throws out an arm, and I feel a tingly power flowing through me. My whole body feels like it fell asleep, tingling with needle-sharp pain.

I move my fingers reluctantly. I hope this feeling goes away soon…Oh man, a sneeze is coming! My sneeze reverberates through the room, and I smile sheepishly. "Thanks, Sheena," I say to her.

"Bless you. And no problem. Now let's go."

She turns and walks towards Genis. I follow, and we continue onwards through the tower. We run into a few more possessed toys and undead creatures, but now I know better than to look in their eyes, and we manage to get to the upper level. We see the rest of the group on the other side of the giant room, and a weird light bridge appears for us. I question its stability, but I step on it and I don't fall through, so that's a relief. We walk across and finally reunite with the others.

"I'm so glad you made it!" Colette says as she floats towards us, already using her angel wings.

"So are we," Genis says.

"Man, I'm tired," Lloyd grumbles.

Genis facepalms. "That's because you always get excited in the beginning and then bored after an hour," he whines.

They bicker while the rest of us relax briefly. We need to conserve our energy for to battle ahead, and even though Raine's group has been waiting, my group has been walking up about a thousand stairs and fighting countless animals, so we need a break. Getting petrified really tires you out.

I sneeze. Uhg. This should be interesting.

---

So I didn't realize that the chosen had to actually fight to release the seal. I just thought that she had to say a few prayers and maybe fight a little bug or something, I dunno. I didn't expect to fight a giant horse that has spiked fur and an even spikier horn. How are we supposed to beat this, exactly?

Oh, and to make everything that much harder, we're also on the Tower of Mana's rooftop, where it's very windy. I remember my dream from last night and gulp. I hope I don't fall.

"What is that thing?" I ask, nocking an arrow and taking aim.

"It's Iubaris, and we need to defeat it," Raine replies before charging a photon attack.

Lloyd, of course, just runs right in and attacks it with his Beast attack, actually knocking it to the ground. Wow, I guess Lloyd's pretty strong – or the horse got caught off guard. Colette flies in after him with her chakrams out, throwing them at the downed horse. Those two, with Kratos' help, take care of it until it forces its way up. It doesn't look injured: just very pissed off. With a grunt, it whips its head to the side, throwing Lloyd back across the rooftop.

"You alright?" Genis calls to him as he throws some fireballs at the Iubaris. The fire doesn't seem to affect the horse. Damn.

The brunet boy manages to get up, but he's wincing a little bit. Raine, as observant as ever, stops charging her photon spell and immediately uses first aid on him, patching him up in no time. He then proceeds to run in and try to beat up Iubaris once more. You'd think he'd learn from his mistakes….

Oh hey, my spell finished charging. I fire my water-coated arrow at the horse, watching it embed itself in its rump. It whinnies and bites the arrow, pulling it out and snapping it in half with its teeth. I frown; arrows aren't cheap.

Iubaris seems to realize that I was the one who fired the arrow at it, for it charges straight for the professor and me. I grab Raine and pull her out of the way, just managing an escape. The spiked horse stops mid-run and turns around, glaring at us with its bright red eyes. My heart stops as I see it charging a light spell at us with its horn. The magic takes the form of a horn nearly identical to the one on its head, and it flies straight towards us. I try to move out of the way, but it follows me. With little choice, I throw up a damage guard spell; Raine does the same.

The spell shatters my shield, hitting me right in the abdomen. Energy flies through my body like a sword. I collapse to the ground, pain rushing through me. I see out of the corner of my eye that Raine is in a similar state, although she didn't get the brunt of the attack and starts to get up with the help of her staff.

Someone calls my name, but I can't really tell whose voice it is. Everything's starting to go black. Good. Maybe if I pass out, I won't be able to feel the pain.

"D…give u…j...t…wait…"

"What?" I ask weakly.

Someone places a hand on my stomach, and tingling mana seems to flow from it, entering my body and numbing the pain. Breathing no long pains me, I notice, and I can move without suffering. The darkness that began to appear ebbs away, and I see Raine looking into my eyes, worried.

"Thank goodness," she mutters. "That was a nasty attack. I managed to heal the worst of it, so you should be able to continue fighting if you want."

She offers a hand to help me up, and I take it, getting pulled onto my feet. "Thanks," I tell her. "You're awesome."

"Why thank you. Now if you don't mind…" And with that she's off to heal Genis, who was attacked by lightning magic. Geeze, it's as if Raine can go everywhere at once, even with a cold. What's she like when she's not sick?

Kratos, Sheena, and Lloyd, learning quickly that Iubaris focuses on the short range attacks, back each other up as they try to distract it from Colette and Genis, who are focusing on the long-range attacks. I join those two, and together we work on trying to kill this sucker. Genis and I realize quickly that lighting, light, and fire attacks are no good with Iubaris, and we need to resort to using wind, water, and ground-types to inflict serious damage. Genis stone blasts it, and I continue using my water arrows, since I don't have any kickass spells like that.

It takes about an hour, but we finally manage to defeat the creature with a final Beast attack from Lloyd. Weak and bloody, Iubaris falls to the ground, disappearing into a cloud of mana. It floats upwards towards the sky, disintegrating into the wind. I close my eyes, feeling drained from the battle. How do these guys have the strength for all of this? I sneeze, feeling even achier now than ever.

"You have done well, Chosen," a low-pitched voice says suddenly. I glance around, wondering who said that, but no one else seems concerned, so I guess this is just the normal procedure. "Offer your prayers at the altar."

With a nod, the blonde says, "Yes!" and approaches the altar on the middle of the roof. She begins praying to the Goddess Martel, and mana seems to fly around the altar. Sparks of energy dance around, and a blinding yellow light appears.

"Where is Aska?"

From the yellow light is the shape of a female of some sort. She sits on a floating crescent moon, her long golden hair trailing to the ground in wavy ringlets. She looks at us quizzically, and I have the feeling I should know who this woman-thing is. Unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank and feel immensely stupid as a result.

"It talked!" Lloyd exclaims. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

She examines us with her dark gray eyes and continues, "Without Aska, I can do nothing. I cannot form a pact with you. Find Aska…then my power will be restored…" She slowly fades away into the bright light, leaving no sign of her appearance.

"Was that normal?" I ask Raine, wondering if she has any idea as to what just happened. She shakes her head, looking a little confused as well. Oh great. If she doesn't know what happened, no one does.

Colette turns to us quickly, as if she's going to ask what just happened. However, a beam of light appears from the heavens, and she turns right back around in time to see a male angel floating down towards us. Garbed in a pale green robe, complete with a matching hat, he looks as if he is a normal human, with exception to the giant white wings on his back. His blond hair, the same color as Colette's, seems to sparkle in the light.

He begins to talk to Colette, but I turn to Genis, who happens to be next to me, and ask, "Who's that angel?"

He whispers, "That's Lord Remiel, Colette's father. He's the one guiding us on the regeneration journey."

"Oh." Her father? Makes sense, I suppose, that her father is an angel. She _is_ the Chosen, after all.

"…You seem anxious, daughter," the angel says as I start to pay attention.

"Oh no, I'm not," Colette replies. "I'm quite happy." She seems cheery enough, but something in her voice seems to say otherwise.

I think Lord Remiel notices, for he makes disconcerted noise that doesn't quite seem to fit his angelic status. Nevertheless, he continues, "Your journey is nearing its end. Now is the time to rejoice, Chosen, for the path to the Tower of Salvation is open! Head to it, and offer your prayers. Then you will be able to climb the stairway to heaven!"

"I will do as you instruct…Lord Remiel."

"Very good." With his final words, he begins to rise upwards, disappearing with a flash. Although he's gone, I guess he can still talk to us, for he says, "I will wait for you at the final seal, my daughter. There, you will become an angel like me!" His voice echoes around us. It's a little creepy.

After a moment, Sheena says, "So the regeneration is really gonna happen, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Lloyd smiles.

"The end is in sight," Kratos says simply. "We should go to the Tower of Salvation."

"But what about Pietro?" Sheena asks. "We promised to help him!"

"We'll discuss that later," Raine says. "But first we should rest." She turns slightly towards Colette and asks her, "Are you feeling alright?"

"What? Oh yes, I'm fine," she replies.

"Let's get out of here!" I say.

We make our way to the entrance room. All of the monsters are gone, perhaps from Colette awakening the seal, and we get to the book room with very few problems. Colette looks a little paler, and I try to see if she's sick. However, she just tells me not to worry about her and makes sure I'm okay.

Colette, you need to be selfish. Think about yourself for once! If only I could say that to her…

When we make it to the entrance room, Raine begs us to let her look at the books some more. Even though the rest of us just want to leave, she reminds us that the key to Pietro's cure is in one of these books, and she quickly sends us to look for the book.

I get assigned the top shelf, since I'm the tallest next to Kratos. Most of the books are in foreign languages and coated with dust, so, to add to my running nose, I'm now perpetually sneezing. Raine yells at me when I get snot on one of the books, and I grumble under my breath as I wipe it off with the hem of my coat. Ew. I really want some clean clothes.

After searching for forever, Raine finally finds the book Sophia was talking about: Boltzman's Book. She grabs it from the shelf and skims through it.

"So we can cure Pietro now?" Sheena asks.

The healer shakes her head. "Not yet. I need something to amplify my magic; in its current state, I don't have enough power to perform this caliber of magic. I need something…perhaps a unicorn horn." She sighs. "If only I knew where to get one…"

A unicorn…I think I know where one is.

"Uh, I think I know where we can get one," I say. Everyone looks at me, to my dismay. "I was camping at Lake Umacy a few weeks ago and saw a unicorn at the bottom of the lake. It's too deep to swim to, though, but if someone knows how to get to it, we could ask it to help us." I neglect to mention that it refused to help me when I was swimming for it, but whatever. Maybe it'll make an exception for the Chosen of Mana.

"Very well. Let's head to Lake Umacy, and we'll see what happens from there," Raine suggests.

We exit the building, and I'm surprised it's already dark outside. So much for heading to Lake Umacy – we'll probably just set up camp for the night and go there tomorrow. Colette takes a few steps, but then she collapses to the ground.

"Colette!" Lloyd runs to her, pulling her in his arms. She opens her mouth to say something, but the only thing that leaves her mouth is a mangled sound.

"It's her toxicosis again," Raine mutters.

"Colette, say something!" Genis says.

She tries to respond, but she just keeps making that same choked sound.

"What's wrong?" the twin-swordsman asks her.

"I assume she lost her voice," Kratos replies.

"What?" Another stage of her becoming an angel? "Is there anything we can do?"

Kratos shakes his head. "No."

Asshole.

"Let's rest in the tower for the night," Raine suggests. "At this point, there's not much else that can be done."

We return into the dusty room, and we set up for the night. As we're about to make dinner, Sheena, who had been unusually quiet up until that point, walks to the center of our gathering and asks for our attention.

"Look," she says. "I need to tell everyone something, and it's really important that you listen to me." Looking around at us with her light hazel eyes, she continues, "It's about why I was sent to kill Colette. It's gonna be hard to believe, but I'm being completely honest with you now, so just let me say what I need to say, alright?"

We all nod and let her continue.

"I'm not from Sylvarant. I'm from another world called Tethe'alla."

---

**A/N: Yeah, I changed the dialogue. So sue me.**

**Anyway, I'm taking a hiatus from this for a while. I'm really sorry about it, but I'm gonna be really busy for the next few months, and I won't have time to do anything related to this. I wouldn't expect anything before May if I was you, unfortunately.**

**Have I mentioned how sorry I am about this? :[**


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